Megaman ZXC
by Xx9ZeroxX9
Summary: This story is my version of filling in the plot holes that were left at the end of MZ 4 all the way to MZXA. Story takes place after MZXA just in case. Please also bear with me since its my first story. Thx for understanding.
1. Chapter 1

"Zero" said Weil with a weak tone of voice from his and Zero's battle, "you might defeat me here, but it'll be at the expense of your friends"

"What are you talking about?" said Zero with an irritated voice while looking at the mad scientist.

Just then Ragnarok's laser fired but it wasn't at Ciel's truck, neither was it the humans escaping from the remains of Neo Arcadia and it wasn't at Area Zero either, it was to…

"NNNNOOOO" said Zero extending his arm like he could stop Ragnarok's laser

"Oh no" said Ciel in a worried tone of voice from inside the truck "Operator, where did Ragnarok fire its laser?"

"Miss Ciel…" said the red haired Operator with a sad look on her face "…Look at what Ragnarok fired at …"

The Operator typed on her keyboard and the monitor inside the truck showed where Ragnarok fired.

"Is that…" said Ciel with a sad look "the Resistance HQ?"

The Operator only nodded and looked down not wanting to see the destruction of the Resistance HQ.

"…There's nothing left… " said Cerveau trying to hold in his crying

"…Everythings…gone…" said Alouette crying on the floor

"…Operator, get Zero on the monitor…" said Ciel letting a tear drop from her eyes

"… Yes, Miss Ciel…" said the operator still not looking at the screen.

The operator started typing on her keyboard to try and get the image of what was happening up on the fallen Ragnarok. Ciel started to get very worried with each passing minute. An hour later the screen showed what was happening and Ciel's eyes were wide to what was the first thing it showed on the monitor.

"…Ze…Zero" said Ciel about to cry her eyes out and falling to her knees "… Zero…"

They were looking through Zero's helmet and looked at the body of the red hero. He was on the floor with his back turned to the sky and his face to the side. His eyes were half shut, all his hair (he also has hair in his head were he puts on his helmet) was covered in blood. His armor was broken and covered in cracks and blood was coming out of his mouth from one side. Cerveau closed Alouettes eyes; not wanting the little girl to see the man she considered a big brother, dead on the floor while Weil was laughing like a madman.

"You were truly weak Zero" said Weil in his maniacal laughter "You let your feelings for your friends get the better of you, a very fatal mistake"

"Zero…please wake up" said Ciel already crying while she was on her knees "ZEERRRROOOOOOO!"


	2. Chapter 2

**Author's Note: If your reading this, then that means one of two things:**

**Your reading this story beacuse you find it interesting**

**You don't have anything else to do and your reading this to pass the time not because you like it**

**Well either way, hope you enjoy.**

"Zero!" screamed the blond haired girl as she woke up.

When she woke up, she noticed she had a pink winter's coat that was covering her from the cold of the night (like a blanket) and noticed she was in the forest.

"_So it was all a dream?_" she thought

"You okay?" asked someone walked in to the campsite who was wearing another winter's coat only in red with the hood covering his face.

When she looked in front of her, she saw him putting some firewood he brought next to the campfire. Then he took of his coat to reveal a blond man wearing a long-sleeved red jacket, long beige pants and red shoes walked toward the tree in which the girl was next to. He sat down next to her and rested his head on the tree. Then he looked at the girl who was wearing a pink sleeveless shirt, a pink skirt, a long black undershirt, long black leggings and pink shoes. She had her arms wrapped around her legs and was looking at the campfire with sad eyes. The blond man didn't ask again about why she screamed knowing full well she didn't want to speak of it.

"Hey Ciel, here" he said to her and gave her an apple

"Where did you get this?" she asked taking the apple

"I picked it from a tree while I gathered some firewood" he said

"Thought you might be a little hungry"

"Thanks, Zero" she replied and she took a bite out of the apple

After she finished eating the apple, she put on her coat since it was winter and they were in the forest outside Inner Peace. She started getting closer to Zero without his noticing, up until she rested her head on his shoulder, which made him blush and look the other way. They were able to enjoy that moment of rest in front of the campfire for a few minutes until they heard something coming from the bushes in front of them. The both of them stood up and Zero put on his coat and concealed his head with the hood and Ciel also concealed her head with her coats hood. From the bushes came a group of 3 hunters each carrying a Hunters machine gun.

"Hey you found them yet?" asked a hunter to another one

"Nope, haven't seen em Bill" replied the hunter

Instead of trying to fight them, Zero and Ciel hid themselves behind two trees and started overhearing their conversation.

"Are you sure there here Bill?" asked the last hunter

"Yes I'm sure, the Intel for the mission said that there are 2 hooded people one in pink and the other in red, that are suspected of being involved the recent maverick outbreaks, somewhere in the forest outside of Inner Peace and this is the closest forest" answered Bill

"And, in what way could two hooded people be involved?" asked the 2nd hunter

"There have been 4 maverick attacks inside Inner Peace this month all off which have been comprised of only Galleon-class mavericks and at all 4 of them they've been seen" answered Bill

"The first maverick attack was on the streets at the northern part of the city and they were sighted on the rooftops by Vent and Aile"

"The second one was also on the streets close to where the first one was and they were seen in an alleyway by a reporter.

"The third one was under the highway area and they were sighted on the highway, looking down at the battle by Grey who was helping the Guardians at that battle"

"The last one was at the west entrance and they were seen in the forest by the group of Guardians led by Prairie"

"So that's why there suspected?" said the other hunter

"The last time they were seen, the Guardians opened fire at them thinking they were mavericks and they fled here which brings us back to the mission, got all that Bob?" said Bill

"Yeah, Yeah I got it, well lets keep going they maybe farther in" said Bob

"Why do you say that?" asked the last hunter

"Because I just found their campfire" said Bob

"Why do you think it's their campfire?" asked the last hunter

"Gee Ant, I wonder who else would camp out in winter, at night and in a forest full of mavericks?" said Bob who already lost his cool at the stupid question Ant said

"Fine I get the message, you don't have to lose your cool, and by the way my name is ANTHONY!" he said when he shouted his name

"Guys we have a mission to complete so please stop arguing and let's go" said Bill trying to get them to stop

"Fine" answered the both of them together

They started heading deeper into the forest without knowing that the ones they were looking for were right behind them, behind the trees.

"So that's why they opened fire on us" she thought

"It looks like there gone" whispered Zero

"This place isn't safe anymore we better go back to the city and find a place to hide there" said Zero looking around to see if anymore came out

"Ok" said Ciel sighing in relief that they left

They started walking back to the city while also looking out for any mavericks or Hunters that found them. On their way Ciel took out a golden heart-shaped necklace which was broken in half (almost like it was made to look like that) from inside her shirt. Zero also took out another golden heart-shaped necklace which was also broken in half that looked like it could fit perfectly to the one Ciel had. Both of them didn't notice that the other one did the same, since Zero was in front while Ciel was behind him. Ciel held hers to her chest as she thought of something and then she put it away again. As they started getting closer to the city they both started reminiscing about their past.

**Author's Note: Well, hope you enjoyed this chapter. Also planning on making them going to different places like for example they got to the beach to enjoy everything the world there in has to offer, because if I just keep going with the story without any fun in it, it can get pretty boring. Hope you like the idea and if you don't then oh well can't satisfy everyone, right?**


	3. Chapter 3 Flashback

**Author's Note: Here's another chapter for you readers and sorry for not uploading this sooner but school hasn't been very forgiving. Well hope you like it.**

**Flashback**

Up on Ragnarok, after Zero destroyed Weil's core, he was trying to find a way to get out of there.

"Ciel, respond… Ciel!" screamed Zero as he tried to get out of the exploding Ragnarok

"Dammit… that fight took a lot out of me and these explosions aren't making things much easier either" he said while trying to overrun the explosions inside of Ragnarok

Those explosions weren't very merciful on the Red Hero. His armor was already damaged enough from Weil's battle and each explosion he tried to outrun, another one hit him from his side which caused him more damage and he was losing time before Ragnarok blew up completely. When he reached the end of the corridor he was trapped at a dead end and all there was behind him was a window that let him see below to Earth and the explosions infront of him.

"This isn't good" he said while crossing his arms and forming a guard to defend himself

The explosions were getting closer and closer until they reached Zero and he was blown away through the window. He started falling back to Earth like a shooting star and he could see pieces of Ragnarok next to him, some burning up in the atmosphere while others didn't burn up. After a few seconds of falling, then came the inevitable crash. When Zero crashed in the desert his helmet came off and fell inside a small pit and Ragnarok pieces were starting to fall on him.

"So these is how I'm gonna die?" he thought to himself as the pieces were falling on him

His energy was very low and he couldn't move since he was in a very damaged state. One of his arms and legs were broken and dangling on a few cables and what was left of his energy was slowly starting to deplete.

"Ciel… I'm sorry but… it doesn't look like… I'm gonna make it back this time…" he thought as his eyes started to close

"For…give…me…" he said and at that moment his eyes closed and there he lay covered in Ragnarok pieces with no energy left.

One week later…

After the destruction of Ragnarok, humans and Reploids have started settling there differences even though they still occasional fights since some humans think that the destruction of Neo Arcadia is because of the Reploids. Even with all the trouble, the members of the Resistance have decided to disband their group since up until now there haven't been any outbreaks of rogue mavericks. They still use the HQ and Area Zero as a home while some humans and Reploids are building a new home.

"Well, everyone I'm going to the desert" said Ciel as she packed some water for her.

"Well be careful out there, alright?" said Cerveau "you never know what could happen in the desert"

"Hey Sis, why are you going to the desert anyway?" asked a little girl who was holding a stuffed animal

"Well, Alouette, I'm gonna try and bring back some pieces of Ragnarok that didn't burn up and those pieces landed in the desert." Said Ciel to Aloutte

"Well at least take Colbor and Hirondelle with you" said Cerveau

"Ok then, ill contact them and tell them to meet me outside on a jeep" she said while she used her helmet to contact them

After contacting them, they agreed and before Ciel got to the jeep they already started it and were waiting for her to come.

"Hey, Colbor?" asked Hirondelle

"Yeah what is it?" he asked

"What are we gonna do in the desert anyway?" he asked while he looked at the sky

"Well Miss Ciel asked us to accompany her to the desert to look for some pieces of Ragnarok that could help us make a better place for everyone to live in." he said

"Oh, well I guess that is pretty nice, but were are we gonna look in the desert?" he asked again, this time he was standing up and was using his binoculars to look around

"That is a pretty good question." He told him "Guess we'll just have to look around and see if were lucky"

"Hello guys" yelled Ciel as she ran to the jeep

"Hiya" said Colbor

"Hello Ciel" said Hirondelle

When she got in the jeep and they started going to the desert. An hour later of searching they only found a small handful of pieces.

"It's been an hour and we haven't found that many" said Hirondelle who was the one driving the jeep

Colbor was using his binoculars to see if he spotted any mavericks or pieces of Ragnarok. Ciel drank a little of the water she packed before coming here.

"Hey, I see something over there" said Colbor pointing to the north were the thing he saw was

When they got there, they turned the jeep off and got out of it to search.

"Wow" said Colbor amazed that some of the pieces they found were taller than Hirondelle

"What's that thing shining over there?" thought Ciel

"Guys I'm gonna go in this pit ok?" she said to them

"Do you think you can put those pieces in the jeep or at least some of them?"

"Yeah, don't worry, we'll handle it you just check what you wanna check" said Hirondelle trying to see how they were gonna put that on the jeep

Ciel dropped down to the pit and started searching for the thing that caught her eye. She tripped on something and when she looked back her eyes went wide. She grabbed it and it was a broken red helmet.

"This is Zero's…."she thought and she couldn't believe what she found.

She started looking around but saw no trace of him and held the helmet to her chest while a tear left her eye and fell on the helmet.

"MISS CIEL!" screamed Colbor

Ciel started climbing out of the pit with Zero's helmet. When she got to where Colbor was she saw Hirondelle trying to push the Ragnarok piece to the floor with Colbor's help

"What happened, why did you scream?" asked Ciel wondering what they were doing

"Ciel, It's Zero, we found Zero!" said Hirondelle still trying to push the biggest Ragnarok piece out of the way

"You what?" said Ciel astonished at what they said

Ciel started helping them push it outta the way but it was to heavy and they didn't have enough strength. At that moment Colbor thought of an idea.

"Why don't we try to pull up the pieces and try to get Zero outta there?" said Colbor

"Not a bad idea" said Hirondelle

"But who's gonna pull him out?" asked Ciel

"Well me and Hirondelle are reploids so we may be able to pull them up more than you, so you'll pull Zero outta there ok?"

They all agreed on the plan, took their positions and waited for the signal

"On the count of three, we pull" said Colbor

"1…2…3!" yelled Colbor

They started pulling the pieces up and were able to get some off of Zero. Ciel grabbed Zero by his shoulders and tried to pull him out. Together they were able to get him outta there.

"Yeah, we were able to get Zero outta there" screamed Hirondelle out of joy

"We better take him back to the HQ and get him to Cerveau"

They started carrying Zero to the jeep, slowly. They put Zero in the back seat like if he was resting and Ciel put his helmet on the floor of the car. They mounted on the car and started driving back to the HQ. Ciel was also in the back of the car and Zero's head was resting on her lap. The ride to the HQ was a very silent one; Ciel never said anything and was always looking down at Zero's face. The thought of almost losing Zero on Ragnarok, then to find him in the desert to know that he may be dead was too much for her. Another tear escaped her eye and fell on Zero's face. Colbor and Hirondelle didn't know what to say to cheer her up. Colbor already contacted Cerveau and the medical team to wait in front for them. When they finally made it back the medical team took Zero and started heading towards the med. Room. Cerveau followed them inside since he was gonna help repair Zero.

"Don't worry Zero, we'll have you in tip top shape again." said Cerveau to Zero's motionless body.

Ciel went to her room and started praying for Zero to get better.

Five days later…

Ciel visited Cerveau in his lab were he was repairing Zero.

"How is he?" asked Ciel

"All his repairs are done and he should be waking up soon too." said Cerveau

"I also repaired his Z-saber and his buster shot"

"I hope he wakes up soon" said Ciel

After a few minutes of waiting, Zero's hand started to move. Ciel and Cerveau saw him moving his hand. Then he started opening his eyes and started looking around.

"Where…am I?" asked Zero with a low voice

"You're in the HQ, Zero" said Cerveau

"Ciel, Colbor and Hirondelle found you unconscious in the desert and brought you here"

Zero lifted himself up since he was in a maintenance bed until he could see them clearly.

"How'd did you get to the desert?" asked Cerveau

"I was blown through a window by one of Ragnarok's explosions and crashed in the desert." He explained while holding he was holding his aching head.

Before Zero was able to see Ciel, she had left the room and was listening through the wall. She didn't know what to say and she'd rather not face Zero now without knowing what she would do. While she was thinking what she could do someone came from the door and she didn't notice the person looking at her.

"You okay?" he asked

"Who?" she said and she looked up to see who it was

"First time I see you like this" he said in his calm voice

"_Zero_" she thought

She was looking at him while she was sitting on the floor and Zero, in front of her, extending his arm to help her up.

"If you're sad about thinking I died then I'm sorry for making you and everybody else think I died" said Zero to her as he sat down next to her

When he sat down and looked at Ciel she gave him a hug which caught Zero off guard.

"I'm glad you're still alive" she said while she was crying and still hugging him

Zero didn't know what to say so he hugged her back. This moment was one neither of them expected but they didn't do anything to avoid it either. They just sat there hugging and not a word was said.

End of flashback

**Author's Note: Well, hope you liked this chapter. Next one will be coming out sometime soon (I hope) if school doesn't keep me too busy. See ya later in my next chapter.**


	4. Chapter 4

**Author's Note: Chapter takes place after chapter 2 just in case, but I'm pretty sure you already knew that so this is actually useless. Well, nonetheless, enjoy.**

A few minutes of walking later…

When Zero and Ciel finally made it back to the city through the west gate, they took off their hoods so as not to draw unwanted attention to themselves and they started walking down the street. When they got to the intersection, something caught their eye. They saw a lot of lights behind some buildings and they didn't know what was making them. Ciel then saw someone that was coming from that direction and ran to him to ask what those lights were.

"Excuse me, sir" she said

"May I help you, miss?" the man asked with a smile

"Do you know what's making those lights?" she asked as she pointed toward the lights

"Why, those lights are coming from the newly reopened amusement park" he said to her

"Amusement park?" she said in a confused state as she never heard of it

"What's an amusement park?"

"Well, an amusement park is where people go to have fun" he said

"There are games, attractions and It's also were a lot of couples go on date's"

"It sounds like a fun place to go to" she said

"Oh, it is; especially if you go with someone" he said

"Oh, Zero can we go there, I want to see it" she said as she turned around to ask

"But, don't we have to find someplace to stay the night, besides we don't have any money" he said as he reached into his pockets and turned them inside out.

"If you need money, than here you go" said the man as he reached in to his pockets and took out two hundred e-crystals.

Ciel was reluctant at first since it wasn't their money and they barely knew the man

"Come on now, don't be shy" he said

"A-Are you sure?" she asked

"I'm sure and also I…" he stopped mid-sentence like if he was going to say something that he shouldn't and then he continued

"I really want the two of you to have a great time like everybody else since It looks like you've never been to the amusement park" he said as he gave the e-crystals to Zero

"Thanks and what's your name?" Zero asked

"My name is Fleuve" he said

"Well then, see ya later Fleuve" Zero said as he and Ciel waved goodbye and started heading to the amusement park.

They followed the lights to get to the amusement park and they had to go through a big cave which was the only way to get to the amusement park from the city. On the way, Zero gave half of the e-crystals to Ciel. They had to take the subway that ran from the city to the park like everybody else since no one wanted to face the mavericks in the forest. On the way to the park via the subway, Zero was constantly getting his hair pulled on by a little kid, to which he tried to suck up and not do anything about it, until the kid ripped out a few strands of hair in which Ciel giggled a little and Zero put his hair inside the coat not wanting the kid to rip out more of his hair. When they got to the amusement park, they got off the subway, climbed the stairs to go up above and walked towards the entrance **(A/N: just in case the subway entrance is in the south section of the park)**. When they entered, Ciel was amazed of how big and lively it was, while Zero still had his calm look but even he raised his eyebrows in amazement of just how many people there was.

"What should we do first?" she said as she tried to keep in her excitement but was failing at it

"Well it was your idea to come here so you should decide" he said

"Then let's try that one" she said as she pointed at the rollercoaster

When they got to the entrance to the ride the line wasn't that long but it was short either and after a few minutes of waiting it was finally there turn to ride on it. Throughout the whole ride Ciel was the one raising her arms and screaming out of the fun while Zero had his arms crossed and still had his calm face.

"That was fun" she said as they left the rollercoaster attraction.

After the rollercoaster, Ciel wanted to try some of the games in the amusement park.

"Hey, Zero, let's check that one" she said as she grabbed him by the hand and ran to the game

"Excuse me, sir" she said to the man in charge of the game

"Yes, little lady?" he asked when he turned to see who called him

"How do you play this game?" she asked as she only saw the stacks of bottles and the prizes in the wall.

"Rules are easy" he said

"All you need to do is knock down those bottles with these balls" he then showed the 3 balls that you need to play

"If you knock down one of those stacks you can win one of the smaller prizes"

"Knock down two for the medium ones and all three of 'em for the bigger prizes"

"How much is it to play this game?" she asked

"25 e-crystals" he said

Ciel then took from her pocket 25 e-crystals and gave them to the man and he put the 3 balls on the table. Ciel then picked the first one and threw, which knocked down the first stack.

"_Got one_" she thought as she was filled with confidence to make sure to hit the other two stacks

She picked the second ball and threw it and knocked down the second stack of bottles

"_Only one more_" she thought as she picked up the last ball

She threw the last ball so hard that it knocked down the bottles and went right through the tent, falling on the other side

"Yay!" she said as she screamed up and down out of joy

"Wow, little lady" he said amazed at what Ciel just did

"You got quite an arm on you"

She giggled out of the complement and his surprise of her throwing the ball through the tent.

"Well then, which prize do you want?" he asked as he started stacking up the bottles again and put away the two balls that where still there.

While Ciel was thinking of which prize she wanted, Zero went behind the tent to get the ball that Ciel threw, back. When he got back, the man was already getting Ciel's prize if the wall.

"Here you go" he said as he gave the doll to her

"You picked the mettaur?" said Zero while he looked at the doll **(A/N: The mettaur is the one from the BN series)**

"Yup" she replied "I just think there pretty adorable" she said as she hugged her doll

"_She thinks those things are adorable_?" he thought as he looked at the doll "_Those things tried to kill me_!" he thought again but he let the thought go and looked at the man

"Here" Zero said as he threw the ball to him

"Oh, thanks" he catched the ball and put it away with the rest

Zero and Ciel then left the game and walked for awhile through the park until something caught Ciel's eye, to which she ran to, leaving Zero behind as he didn't run after her, and started reading the sign that was next to it.

"Wishing well" she said

"Throw an e-crystal and make a wish" she then took out an e-crystal, made a wish and threw it inside.

Zero was staring at the stars when Ciel looked back at him. Ciel was walking back to him when, without any warning, the area where they where was bombed. Zero and Ciel were knocked unconscious because of the sudden explosion and there coats were blown away; the doll was also sent flying and their clothes got ragged and slightly shredded. A few minutes passed before Zero regained consciousness. He was on the floor and he raised his head to see what was going on. He saw some fire that was cause by the explosion and innocent people on the other side getting slaughtered by the mavericks.

"_Another outbreak here?_" he tried to get up but fell down again "_I have to get Ciel out of here_" he then tried to see if he could see her

He saw her as she was waking up. Zero, weakened by the explosion, started crawling to her. She tried to get up but she was also hurt and she soon fell down again. Ciel was now too weak to move as one of the explosions was closer to her. When Zero was still a few feet away, a galleon with a blade attached to its arm appeared out of the fire and saw Ciel who was breathing heavily. It then walked towards her and Zero, who was still a few feet away, had his eyes widened and mouth slightly opened at what the galleon did. It had stabbed Ciel through her stomach, lifted her up with its blade and then threw her outside the fire. Zero didn't move at all as he couldn't believe what just happened. The galleon then saw Zero and walked towards him sharpening his blade on the floor as he got closer. The galleon was right in front of him and then it tried to stab him but Zero out of anger rolled out of the way, grabbed its leg and ripped it out which caused the galleon to fall to the floor. Zero then ripped out its blade arm and used the blade to lift himself up. When he was standing he used the blade to cut the maverick in half. After Zero cut the galleon in half another one appeared and this one was running towards him while it tried to slice him apart. Zero was using the blade of the galleon he just defeated as a shield since he couldn't fight back against the speedy galleon in his weakened condition. Zero then threw the blade hoping it would defeat it but the galleon quickly deflected it.

"_Dammit, that didn't work and now I'm defenseless_" thought Zero as he walked back and also tried to avoid the galleons slices.

Zero tripped on a rock and he fell on his back. Zero was too weak and tired to keep fighting back and the galleon proceeded to kill him.

"_I can't die here, not now_" thought Zero as the galleon lifted his blade upwards to slice him.

The galleon stopped when the blade was already an inch away from cutting Zero in half.

"_What the…?_"

The galleon then split in two and behind it there was someone holding a glowing blue sword and had reddish armor. Zero tried to get a better look at the person who saved him but he was too weak and passed out. When Zero woke up, he was being supported by someone. Zero moved his slightly opened eyes to see who it was and noticed it was the person who helped him. The person then noticed that Zero was looking at him.

"Don't worry, boss, were almost out of here." Said the person

"_Boss?_" thought Zero

Zero then raised his head up to see where they were going and saw that they were leaving the park. Zero, now fully awake, started looking around and he didn't see Ciel.

"Let me go…" Zero said in a weakened tone of voice "I have to go back"

"Are you crazy, boss?" said the person

"I said let me go" said Zero as he pushed him

"What was that for?" asked the person

Zero didn't answer back; instead he tried to walk back to the park but was stopped by that person

"Get out of my way" said Zero

"No can do, boss" said the person "You're in no condition to be fighting let alone walking"

"I'm fine" said Zero "Besides; I don't even know who you are"

"What are you talking about?" he asked "It's me, Vent"

Zero passed by him without paying attention but fell on his knees soon after.

"Dammit" he said

"I told you, you're in no condition to be walking" said Vent as he to grab him to get him out of there

"Leave me alone" said Zero as he tried to get up "I'm going back in there"

"I'm not gonna let you go back in there for a stupid reason that can get you killed" said Vent

Zero felt a little anger at him, but he soon calmed down.

"I'm going back no matter what you do" said Zero

"Why do you want to go back in there anyway?" asked Vent

Zero didn't answer Vent's question immediatly. Instead, he grabbed his necklace and stood up.

"Someone with a dream for peace" said Zero as the necklace started to glow "Someone very dear to me" energy formed around Zero in the form of data and his hair flew upwards **(A/N: If you remember Vent and Aile's transformation to ZX, I'm talking about the streams that surrounded them as they transformed) **"I will not let her die. I will protect her" armor started to form around Zero's head, arms, legs and waist. "WITH MY LIFE!" he shouted and became enveloped in a blinding light.

Vent was shocked at what was happening. When the light disappeared, Vent was speechless at what he was seeing. The man he thought was Giro had transformed. He had a glowing green sword, a helmet that resembled Vent's helmet but in a different way. He also had armor on his arms and legs and white armor that covered his hip. The necklace that he had turned silver but Vent was too shocked to notice it.

"Who… are you?" asked a shocked Vent

Zero didn't answer and instead ran back inside the park to save his wounded friend from death's doorstep.

**Author's Note: Sorry if this isn't what you were expecting but I still hope you keep on reading and see ya later.**


	5. Chapter 5

**Author's Note: This chapter has been remade from what it was before, trying to see if it's better than before, I would appreciate it if you reviewed it but I think I'm staying with this chapter now, since it adds a little more to the story than before. Well hope it's up to specs and enjoy.**

"Out of my way" said Zero as he cut down a Galleon. _"These things aren't as tough as I thought they were, but…"_ he avoided another shot and another _"They sure are annoying in a group"_ he blocked a bullet with his Z-saber and sliced another one _"I better finish this quick and find Ciel"_ he then put away his Z-saber and took out his Buster shot

Zero was skillfully avoiding the Galleons shots while at the same time accurately shooting back at them. In a few short seconds the 10 Galleons that surrounded Zero were all on the floor with a hole through their chest and/or head. Zero then proceeded to keep searching for Ciel. As he ran through the park he found no trace of her until he found the remains of the maverick that attacked him.

"_This is..."_ he thought about what happened there, how he was unable to stop that blade Galleon from attacking Ciel, how he destroyed it out of rage with its own arm, his weakness to stop the second blade Galleon from almost killing him unless Vent had helped him. Those thoughts tortured him before he brushed them off, left the area and followed the direction the blade Galleon had thrown Ciel.

"Ciel, where are you?" he yelled but no reply came "Ciel!" he yelled again and still no reply

He kept checking that area until he saw 4 Galleons looking down at something that was on the floor. Zero hid behind one of the stores and tried to see what they were looking at. The only thing he saw was a slight glimpse of something pink. One of the galleons moved to a different spot and the thing they were looking at was…

"_Ciel!"_ Zero then left his hiding spot, took out his Buster shot and shot them. He was able to take them down easy enough by firing 2 fully charged shots that took take of all 4 of them.

After taking care of them Zero ran to Ciel. He crouched on one knee and lifted her from the waist up, a bit. She wasn't moving, which made him worry.

"Ciel, wake up!" Zero rocked her gently "C'mon wake up"

As Zero slowly rocked her, a bomb impacted behind him. He quickly combined both of his sabers and formed a bigger Shield Boomerang to shield himself and Ciel from the explosion. When it subsided, he looked up and saw an enemy bomber aircraft in the form of a manta ray.

"_So that's what's dropping the bombs" _

"_I better destroy it before more people get hurt… or worse"_ he took out his buster shot, loaded both sabers on it, to give it more power **(A/N: Just in case, the other saber is connected to the one that's always on the gun via the handle's end, where the blade pops out)** and charged up the gun. In a matter of a second the charge reached its peak.

"Laser shot!" he pulled the trigger and a concentrated high density laser, shot towards the aircraft.

Before it even had time to react, the laser went right through it. The aircraft started blowing up in different parts and finally it blew up in the air which lighted up the sky for a few seconds. Zero, relieved that one problem was taken care off, turned his attention back to Ciel, who he was holding up with his left arm.

"_I better get her out of here while I still can"_

He picked her up in his arms and hurriedly tried to find the nearest exit. He didn't see one in the west section so he headed to the south where the subway was. As he kept going, he encountered a small group of Galleons. He quickly hid behind the nearest wall, set Ciel on the floor with her back to the wall, and peaked out from the hiding spot to see how many where there.

"_Only 8"_

He took out his S. boomerang but when he was about to throw it the galleons looked back and shot at Zero.

"_Dammit, how did they found out I was here?"_

The shots weren't stopping and they were walking towards him. Zero took out his buster shot and, with the S. Boomerang still activated in his right arm, popped out of hiding. He used to S. Boomerang to block incoming bullets while shooting back some of his own. He was able to take down 3 of them with the buster, but the shots kept coming and they were closing in on him and Ciel. Running out of options, Zero did the next best thing. He took out the Z-saber that was still attached to the buster and put the buster away. Activating his saber, while still keeping the S. Boomerang in front to block incoming bullets, he charged straight at them. He threw the boomerang, killing one of them and another one when it came back. Running through the shots he sliced a galleon in half and again ran through the incoming bullets to the other one. Zero catched the boomerang and threw it, effectively killing another before it came back. Zero sliced the second-to last galleon galleon, and he took out his buster shot and loaded a couple of bullets onto the last one before it finally died. The battle won, Zero put away his buster, his saber and catched the boomerang when it came back, also putting it away. He kneeled down on one foot, next to a galleon and started examining. He found something interesting in the head so he ripped it out and checked it.

"_So this is how they spotted me" _he kept examining the item he ripped out

"_Wonder if they were searching for something or simply using it to kill any surviving humans or reploids that were hiding"_

"_Well anyway, better be careful from now on" _he threw the item to the floor

He went back to Ciel, who, luckily, was still there.

2 minutes later…

In the south section, Zero found the entrance to the subway, but it was blocked by the entrance caving in.

"Dammit" he looked everywhere and decided to head back west "Come on, there's gotta be an exit somewhere"

After 4 minutes of running back to the west part, he kept running making sure to avoid the mavericks while at the same time searching for an exit. He made it to the ferris wheel and saw a yellow door and atop it it had a sign which said "Entrance to the forest". He ran to it but it didn't open like the other silver doors through out the city. He looked around the door and found a yellow card slider next to it.

"_You've got to be kidding me"_ he kicked the door

"C'mon you stupid door" he kicked it again and again "Open, open, open, open, open!"

"Open up already!" he finally got sick of kicking the door

"_I better find another way out"_

He just ran 10 feet away from the door before being stopping as he heard something

"Ze…Zero" said a low voice

Zero looked down and saw that Ciel was finally waking up. He set her down on the wall next to the yellow door, with her back on the wall. Zero looked around to make sure no maverick was around.

"_A lot of mavericks were able to find me because of my energy reading"_

"_If I change back they may not find us, if they aren't searching for survivors that is"_

When he was sure there was no one, he grabbed his necklace with his left hand, concentrated and data streams formed around his hand. His armor and weapons disappeared and he had his torn up clothes back. She opened her eyes slowly, her vision a bit blurry and she looked up and saw Zero standing in front of her. He saw her and he kneeled down; her vision got clearer and she saw that Zero was a little banged up, though she didn't ask why and instead asked something different.

"Zero… where are we?" she asked as she looked around

"We're still in the park, I've been trying to find a way to get you to safety" he said "Changing the topic, how do you feel?"

"Well, aside from this wound…" she gritted her teeth for a second because of the pain before speaking again "I'm still okay"

"You sure?" he asked

"Yeah, I'm sure I still got some energy left" she reassured

"Then we should start heading out and look for another exit" he got up and looked around to see if no one was there

"Alright then" she said

Zero helped her get back up on her feet. Luckily she didn't suffer extreme damage and she could still walk.

"We better be careful, there may still be mavericks running around" he said as he looked around

"Ok" she replied

They started heading out to find a new exit. Just as they left, Zero suddenly felt a presence.

"What the…" he felt something in his chest and next a gun shot.

"ZERO!" she screamed

"_What…just…happened?" _he fell to the floor on his back

Ciel rushed over to him. She kneeled down and saw that a hole through his chest. Ciel felt something near them, looked forward and saw the space in front being distorted. Right in front of them a black galleon with a rifle arm, instead of the arm cannon, appeared. Then 3 more appeared around them. They were surrounded with no way to escape. Zero moved his head a bit to see their attacker.

"_It was cloaked?"_

Zero got up from the floor and tried to get back on his feet but the galleon behind him shot his left leg and he fell down on his knees. He tried to reach for his necklace but the galleon in front of him shot his arm._ "There toying with us"_

"Zero, what are we going to do?" she whispered

He didn't answer. Instead, he was focusing on trying to find a way out, than to dwell on what may happen.

"Ciel..." he whispered

"Huh?" she turned to look at him

"I'll distract them, and you're going to make a break for it" he said with his serious tone

Ciel eyes widened at this.

"Got it?" he asked in a way that it seemed more like an order than a question

Ciel looked around and saw that the Galleons were still aiming at them, waiting for them to do something. She clutched her still open wound and then turned to look at Zero and his already damaged body. She knew that Zero wasn't planning on living through this and she couldn't handle loosing another friend.

"Zero I….I can't" she looked down, her hair covering her eyes.

"Ciel!" he whispered almost sounding like a yell

"I won't" she said

"Why?"

"It's because…" she looked at him and he saw tears running down her face "I don't want to lose another friend"

"Ciel, you know that this is-"

"No it isn't" she cut him off "You just don't want me getting hurt" she forced a smile "We'll both get out of this" she took his hand into hers "Ok?"

Zero looked at her and saw that there was no changing her mind. He learned of that all too well in the past. He sighed and finally spoke.

"Ok Ciel, we'll both get out of this"

"Thank you, Zero" she let go of his hand, wiped away her tears and pressed her hands onto his chest; she closed her eyes and focused. Green energy covered her hands and it entered Zero's wound, slowly healing it and some of his other wounds.

The galleons saw this and the one in front of them shot her, but Zero closed his eyes, focused and opened them again blocking the attack with his hand, it had an aura coursing through it. It was the Z-knuckle, and Zero was determined to get them out of there. He looked at all of the Galleons and he stood up and dashed towards the one in front of him in an instant. The galleon didn't know what was coming to him and he dropped to the floor with a hole through his stomach. The other Galleons saw this and morphed their other hand into the machine gun that most Galleons use and they opened fire on him and Ciel who was panting on the floor out of the amount of blood she lost. Zero dashed to her and covered her using his body as a shield. Zero took all the impacts that were aimed at her. Ciel looked up at his eyes and went wide eyed. They were red, she looked down and saw that his shirt had become black and his pants were whiter than before and his shoes were black. He stood up and looked at the Galleons with deadly eyes. The galleons paid it no mind, big mistake, and were opened fire. Zero in an instant had evaded all the oncoming shots and had killed two of the three. The last one looked behind and saw Zero behind him. He turned to look at him and when he did, Zero grabbed him by his face and lifted him up from the floor. The galleon was squirming in his grasp as Zero tightened his grip on him slowly crushing his face with his hand. Zero grinned and finally crushed his face, the galleons headless body falling to the floor. Ciel lay there wide eyed at what she saw. Then 4 more of them appeared and aimed both their machine and rifle's at him and opened fire, a barrage of bullets heading straight towards him. Zero grinned again like a bloodthirsty god of war and formed another Z-knuckle dashing right through all the bullets, some connecting and some missing, yet he paid it no mind, he just kept that look on his face. He ripped off one of the galleons arms and he threw one arm in the air, picked up the galleons falling body and threw it to one galleon. He threw the galleons hand at another and grabbed the one that he threw up before and threw it at another. He then dashed towards the galleons that were stunned by the arms and smashed a fist on one of them. He turned his attention to the other one and ripped its rifle arm and ramming it through its body, the galleon fell to the floor. Zero then slowly walked towards the last Galleon which was getting up from the floor after getting the other ones body off of him. The galleon looked forward just in time to see a fist heading to its chest. Then he removed his hand and kicked the Galleons upper part off his lower body. The upper part landed next to Ciel who was staring at someone who was Zero yet wasn't at the sametime.

"More" he said as he looked at his hands "I want more" he formed that grin again "I want to kill more people like this"

"Z-Ze-Zero…" she said after healing a bit of her wound, thought it was still opened. "Zero…please…stop this…"

He turned to look at her and walked to her. He was right in front of her, same grin still plastered on his face, but then he clutched his head in pain. He kept swaying back and forth until he went back to normal. His eyes were blue again, his shirt and shoes red and his pants were beige again, and all were again torn up. He looked at her with blurry eyes and he said "…Ciel…" before he fell to the floor unconscious. Ciel crawled over to him and placed his head on his lap. She looked at his face and looked around again, trying to see if there was anybody around to help. "So-some-one…please help us…" she whispered. Then 2 more of those galleons appeared in front of her. She looked in disbelief at them and tears fell from her eyes on to Zero's face. She looked to Zero's face again, her eyes being covered by her hair, and she didn't bother to look towards the Galleons even when she heard them aiming and charging there rifle's at them. She just closed her eyes and waited for the end. She then heard an explosion coming from behind.

On a nearby building two figures watched the battle.

"Hmm, looks like they've made contact with the Guardians" said one of them; he looked to be holding a sword of some kind as he looked down at the group

"MISSIN ORDERS?" said the other one in a computer like voice; he was crouched down over the edge of the building

"Capture them and if that's not possible, then just kill them, it's not like we need their powers for our plan to work, only that it would have speed up the process more" he turned his back to the other one "I would recommend the second option more, and also see if you can infiltrate the Guardian base and take them down from the inside, we don't need them getting in the way of our plans again" he then teleported away in a green light.

The other one stood up, eyes never leaving the group. "MISSION ACCEPTED" he started disappearing "PRIMARY OBJECTIVE" "ELIMINATE TARGETS" and he disappeared into the shadows.

She looked back and saw people wearing green and shooting at the two galleons. Someone in pink appeared from the group after the galleons were taken down.

"Survey the area and make sure that there aren't any more Galleons around" she commanded.

Every one of them said "Sir, yes sir" and they all took off except two that were also dressed in green only one of them was taller than her with blond hair, spiky in the back and his eyes weren't covered by the visor. And the other one had red hair and had a big rocket launcher with her. The one with blond hair walked over to Ciel and the unconscious Zero. He kneeled down and Ciel never even looked up to see who it was. He then noticed their wounds but when he looked to Zero his eyes were wide.

"Prairie, come here quick!" he yelled turning to her

Prairie immediately ran to him, the red haired girl following close behind. As they neared him, there's eyes were wide as they looked towards Zero. When they got to him, the red haired girl kneeled down next to him and checked Zero's pulse.

"Good, he's still alive" she said as she looked to Prairie whose eyes were even wider than before as she looked towards Ciel.

"M-mi-miss?" she stuttered as she called to Ciel

Ciel looked up to Prairie and her mouth opened up but no words came out, she just kept staring at the living apparition of a person she longed since thought dead. She finally got enough courage and spoke.

"S-sis?"

**Author's Note: Hah, cliffhanger. Well now I am going to say something, currently working on fixing chapter 6 right now so it fits better and is better. May take a while but I hope it'll be done and uploaded in a week or two, depends on how college treats me these fine days. Well that's it for now, and I'll be seeing ya.**


	6. Chapter 6

**Author's Note: Here is the new fixed chapter 6. Hope it's better than the last one, that is, IF you've read it before I took it out. Well anyway, enjoy.**

Prairie kept staring at the girl she thought or at least hoped was her sister. She couldn't believe her own eyes as she kept her gaze on her. Ciel saw that she wasn't going to say anything anytime soon so she turned her head and looked back at Zero. The red haired girl stood up and walked over to Prairie.

"Prairie, the boy is still alive but they both need to get medical help especially that girl, she has a serious wound in her stomach, I'm surprised she's still alive" she said

Prairie then looked over at her "Oh, uhh, ok then" she wasn't thinking straight

She noticed this and asked "Is something wrong? You look like you've seen a ghost" she looked behind her and saw Zero then turned back to Prairie "Or maybe we're all seeing a ghost right now"

"Miss, are you alright?" asked the blond man who was still kneeling down with Ciel and Zero, not taking his eyes off her, just in case.

Ciel touched the wound in her stomach, wincing a bit from the pain; she shook her head instead of answering.

Prairie looked at Ciel when she did this, and she grew worried. "Cédre, go gather the other members, tell them we're leaving the rest to Aile and the others, we're heading back to the base" she looked at Zero and Ciel "With them".

Cédre nodded "Got it" she then headed off to tell the others in the vicinity of the new orders.

"Hareng, can you go with her?" asked Prairie to the blond man

He stood up and nodded, running after Cédre. Prairie then walked and kneeled down in front of Ciel.

"Uhhh, miss, may I ask your name?" She was secretly hoping on the inside that it was her

Ciel looked up at her and after getting a clear view of her face, Ciel was the one who had her mouth open yet no words came out.

Ciel raised her hand an touched Prairie's cheek, hoping it wasn't a ghost and then she spoke  
"Alouette is that you?" she said

Before she had a chance to reply, Ciel heard something coming. She stood up, trying to ignore the pain she was feeling right now, and looked at where the noise was coming from. Prairie also stood up and looked at where Ciel was looking at, they both saw a new type of flight Galleon with a energy rapier, like the one Elpizo had, headed for them. The Galleon started evading and blocking bullet shots and Prairie and Ciel looked back to see the others shooting at it. The Guardians ran in front of the girls and kept firing at it, not letting up for an instant. The Galleon was fast as it evaded each shot that was fired and procedded to fly right across all the Guardians straight at…

"DUCK!" Ciel yelled and pushed Prairie down to the floor as the Galleon just barely missed killing Prairie with his rapier. The galleon flew upwards and looked down spotting Prairie getting up from the floor. It then flew downwards rapier extended back, ready to stab at her head. Prairie looked back and saw the galleon, she was wide eyed when she saw the galleon only a few feet away from her, the Guardians feared that they were going to lose their leader, but just as the Galleon stabbed at Prairie a massive blast hit it and the bottom part was the only thing left, which fell to the floor. Prairie looked to where the blast came from and saw an armored Ciel, wielding two buster shots, smoke coming out of them. She was panting heavily and fell on her knees, disengaging her powers. Her armor and weapons disappeared and she had her torn up clothes again. All Ciel saw before she blacked out was Prairie yelling out to her. But Ciel couldn't make out what it was and fell on her side to the floor.

The guardians then ran back to Prairie and started asking if she was ok. She didn't pay attention to any of them and ran to Ciel. She lifted her from the floor and saw just how bad the injury was. The wound had opened up again and she was bleeding a lot.

"Where's the medic?" she yelled.

They were somewhat taken aback but one of the Guardian soldier's walked forward and kneeled down next to Prairie and started working on stopping the bleeding. Prairie let him work and she stood up and contacted the other two.

"Vent, Aile, come in, this is Prairie, I repeat Vent, Aile, come in, this is Prairie" she waited a moment and then someone answered.

"This is Aile, come in Prairie"

"Aile, me and my squad are heading back to the HQ with two injured civilians" "You and the others are to take care off as many Galleons as you can and head back to the base in 30 minutes"

Aile was surprised when she mentioned they were taking two civilians with them "Prairie, why take the civilians with you?"

"It's because they…" she looked at Zero and Ciel who was getting patched up a bit "It's…because…they uhh…" Prairie didn't know how to say it; she can't just come right out and say it "I…"

"Prairie what's wrong? You sound like your sad" Aile was getting worried that something might have happened

"It's just…the civilians look like…Giro and my sis" she said hesitantly

Prairie heard Aile gasp and knew that the news had been too big "A-Are you sure…I mean…didn't they…didn't they die?"

"I know…I'm just as confused as you are and-" she cut herself off when she finally noticed something "Hey, where's Vent?"

"Vent? Oh, he's having a little competition with Grey over who can take the most Galleons out; I swear those two act like little kids sometimes"

"Aile, come quick, the send out 10 Deluxe Assault!" yelled a girl from a far distance but Prairie was able to pick out what he said

"10?" yelled Aile

"Aile, did you say 10? Forget it I want you to get out of there now!" ordered Prairie

"Sorry Prairie but Vent and Grey got surrounded by them, I have to cut the transmission now and go help, we'll meet you at the base again, don't worry we'll be fine" she then cut the transmission

"Aile, Aile!" Prairie sighed sadly and looked over at the other side of the park where the others were. "You guys better be careful" she turned back to the group after the medic was able to patch up as much of the wound he could at the moment.

"We need to get her back to the HQ to get her better treatment" he whispered to her

Prairie nodded and then turned to the Guardians "Everyone listen up, we're heading back to the HQ" all of them were ok with it until "And…" she looked at Zero and Ciel "And…we're taking them back with us" the Guardians, except for the medic, were all confused as to why. One of them walked forward and asked "Miss Prairie, may I ask why?"

"They need immediate medical attention, is that a good enough reason for you?" she said in a strict manner

"Y-yes ma'am" they were taken aback by her strict words, but nonetheless complied

Hareng moved forward and picked up Ciel in his arms, while Cédre picked up Zero and set it over her shoulder. "Ok, we're heading back, I want three of you to cover our rear and the last two to go in front just In case we run into more mavericks while we make our way through the forest" they all nodded and formed the formation, three in the rear and two in the front and started moving towards the forest on their way to the HQ.

The Mega Man's Battle

"Ashe, where are Vent and Grey?" yelled Aile as she ran to her

"Those two are over there in the middle of that crowd of Galleons" she pointed to the Galleons that were converging on a specific point

"Where are the Deluxe Assault?" asked a concerned Aile

**(A/N: Deluxe Assault, my other made up galleon. If you remember the Deluxe Galleon Wing, then this Galleon Assault have the same color scheme and blades on both arms. There armor is stronger than other Galleons yet still light enough for them to be faster than others, yet still not fast enough to compare to the speed of Galleon wing)**

"That's what those two are fighting inside of that group"

Aile pulled out her gun and charged it up "Then I guess we better go help"

Ashe took her two guns out, gave them a twirl, and grabbed them by the handle, also charging them both up "Then we better make an opening"

"On the count of three" said Aile

"1" said Ashe taking her running stance

"2" said Aile also taking a running stance

"3!" they both yelled and ran to the group, shooting all of their attacks at the group.

The shots made a hole through the group which they ran into. They kept going until they were surrounded by the galleons. They heard fighting a bit farther away from them. They nodded to each other and jumped onto the Galleons heads. Running towards the noise while avoiding gunfire and firing their own back, they were able to take down quite a few of them. They finally saw Vent and Grey holding their own, back to back, against the Deluxe Assaults. Aile looked at Ashe and grabbed her hand. Ashe nodded and Aile threw Ashe high into the air, where she unloaded shots after shots towards the Deluxe Assaults near Vent and Grey. They looked up, surprised as to who shot those bullets. They looked just in time to see Aile jumping down from a galleon head to them. Then they saw Ashe coming down and they all nodded and took their battle stances. One of the DL Galleons jumped and slashed at Vent who blocked with his sword. Grey shot a bullet to its face, momentarily stunning it but just enough for Vent to drive his sword through its chest. The galleon fell to the floor but two more came at Vent. Aile switched her gun for her sword and blocked the attack of one of them while Vent blocked the other one. As they took care of these two Ashe and Grey had to take care of their own duo of DL Galleons. They came slashing at them evading most, if not all, their shots. They kept slashing relentlessly not giving them a moment to counterattack. Ashe then grabbed Grey and threw him into the air and blocked a slash headed for her head with one of her guns. The other galleon slashed at her two but she also blocked it with her other gun. Grey a-trans into Buckfire and dove down into the field with a flaming kick. He took down one of the DL Galleons against Ashe and shot fire arrows at the other one. Then he rushed forward and ran his horns through the galleons chest. He hurled it towards the other galleon that was coming at him and quickly changed back to Grey. Ashe shot a laser shot at the galleon that was about to attack Grey. The galleon blocked the attack with his blades but did not block the kick by Grey that sent him through a crowd of normal galleons. The galleon quickly got up and rushed to Grey again. Grey and Ashe were busy taking care of another one of them when Grey screamed in pain when the galleon ran his blade through Grey's arm.

"GREY!" yelled Ashe when she saw this. She then shot the galleon multiple times before she finally took it down only to suffer a deep gash in her back from another one. She fell to the floor as she tried fighting back the pain. Vent and Aile were able to get away from their galleons and rushed over to help them. Aile dashed and blocked the galleon's blade from killing Ashe while Vent did the same with Grey. Aile pushed the galleon back, changed her weapon to a gun again, charged it up, grabbed the galleon by one of his shoulders to keep him from running away, pressed her gun to its chest and fired it, letting the galleon fall to the floor with a hole through its chest; this happened in about 2 seconds. Vent twisted his blade and pushed the galleons blades back. He then twisted his blade again and slashed the galleon across the chest. The galleon jumped back just in time to avoid getting cut in half, only suffering a scrape across the chest. 2 Mega Man down, 5 DL Galleons and about 60 normal Galleons surrounding them left.

"Aile, what are we gonna do?" asked Vent without taking his eyes off the galleons in front of him

"I don't know Vent, but we better think of something fast"

Vent blocked one of the DL galleons blades but he swiped with his other blade. Vent just barely dodged the attack and pushed the galleon away with his sword. The galleon stunned but another took his place, this one attacking Vent with both his blades at the same time. Vent ducked the slash to his face and yelled.

"Rising Fang!" Vent rose from the floor with an uppercut slash that sliced the galleon in half and sent a vertical sonic boom towards the other galleon. It dodged the attack and ran to Vent. Vent was still falling from the attack and was momentarily defenseless as he saw the galleon jumped at took a swipe to his face. Vent blocked the attack with his arm guards but the galleon used his other blade and ran it through one of Vent's legs. They fell on to the floor; Vent being below took the impact from the fall. The galleon got up and took his blade from Vent's leg making him wince loudly from the pain. Before the Galleon could kill Vent, Aile shot a bullet to its head. Vent looked towards Aile and saw another one of the galleons on the floor next to her, dead. That being the reason she couldn't help before. The galleon that she shot turned her attention to her and rushed to her. Aile switched to her sword and blocked the galleons blades. Vent tried getting up from the floor but he couldn't move his leg one bit, and when he looked forward he saw another galleon about to reading both his blades to kill. Vent didn't have enough time to block the attack but someone shot a charged blast to the galleons back making him fly right above Vent into the crowd of Galleons. Vent looked where it came from and saw Grey standing up aiming his gun to the place where the Galleon previously was. He had blood dripping from his shoulder all the way down to his hand. Grey walked over to where Vent was and saw his leg. Aile sidestepped another slash aimed for her and countered by slashing at it. The galleon blocked and slashed vertically. Aile blocked the attack but the galleon used his other blade and ran it through her stomach. Aile moved her body a bit to evade the attack, but it was too late to fully evade it and it ran it through her side. She let her guard down and the galleon took this opportunity to crouch down and sweep kicked her. She tumbled down on her bloody side and winced from the pain. She clutched it as and looked forward to see the galleon about to kill her. The galleon stopped 4 inches from running his blade through her chest and fell to the floor with a hole through its chest. Aile looked where the shot came from and saw Ashe on holding both her guns. Ashe walked up to Aile and kneeled down next to her. Seeing the wound she received, Ashe knew Aile wasn't able to continue the fight. She looked and saw Vent on the floor with Grey next to him, blocking the last Galleons blades. The galleon that was shot through the crowd jumped back onto the field and dashed towards Aile and Ashe. Aile saw this and raised her gun to it. She charged it up and shot it but the galleon evaded the attack and continued to rush. Ashe looked back when Aile fired to see the Galleon about to take her head off. She ducked and pressed her gun onto the galleon's chest, unloading shot after shot not letting up for an instant. When she was sure the Galleon was dead she stopped firing and she was right, the galleon fell to the floor with two holes in his chest. Ashe looked towards Grey and saw he took down the last DL galleon. She then looked around and saw all the visible galleons around them raising their guns at them. Grey looked towards Grey and she looked at him. They both nodded and stood up.

"A-TRANS!" they yelled and in their place was a man with green armor and a jet pack.

Grey held up his only working hand at the moment and Vent took it. Grey wrapped his arm around Vent's stomach and made sure he wouldn't fall. Ashe took Aile in her hands, careful not too make the wound worse. They both nodded and activated their packs. They jumped high into the air and dashed forward away from the galleons. The galleons opened fire when they saw this. Ashe and Grey kept avoiding as many shots as they could as they fell to the floor. The moment they touched the ground they jumped again and dashed forward. They kept repeating the process as they ran away from the galleons. The galleons were following them and kept firing. The Mega Man kept trying to get away as fast as they could but to no avail. Some of the shots hit the pack and it stopped functioning. They were falling now onto the hard cement below and the a-trans were cancelled. Ashe braced herself for impact and made sure she would take the fall instead of Aile. Ashe hit the floor with her back and skidded to a halt, almost loosing consciousness out of the rush of pain that hit the gash in her back when she fell, while Aile's wound was trying to put pressure on her wound but it was still bleeding too much. Grey on the other hand had a worser landing as he and Vent just crashed down, Vent taking most of the impact as he fixed himself on Grey's arm and made sure Grey wouldn't take a lot of damage. On the fall Vent made sure Grey was ok and he was. Grey got up and tried standing up but fell to the floor. None of the Mega Man was able to keep fighting and they all could see the Galleons closing in on them. Vent and Grey turned their heads and looked at Ashe and Aile who were next to them. They were all in bad shape and they couldn't do more than wince from pain. They heard the Galleons footsteps closing in on them. They looked towards them and saw the whole crowd of galleons. Before the galleons could get any closer the area around them blew up taking care of some of them. The Mega Man looked up when they heard something fire and saw the Guardian HQ right above them firing their cannons at the Galleons. The Galleons saw the base and opened fire but they weren't able to do any damage and a minute later the galleons were all wiped out. Vent and the others were internally cheering for the help they got and saw a couple of soldiers running towards them. They all smiled a bit but Aile and Ashe lost consciousness and Grey soon followed. Vent was the only one that was still awake but was slowly drifting off too. All he heard or rather saw before fainting was medic's rushing towards each of them.

**A/N: Well, hoped it was better than the last ch 6 if you read it that is. Review please, 'cause that motivates me to keep going since i'll know people are reading. That's all for now, see ya in the next chapter.**


	7. Chapter 7

**Author's Note: Sorry for the tardiness, extreme tardiness but I was trying to do a christmas special, and it didn't go too well so oh well. But at least I got to finish this chapter right? Well enjoy!**

**Flashback**

**1 hour after Zero's demise**

**Five glowing orbs flew right in front of Zero's body. They all glowed in different colors. They all flashed and instead of the orbs, now stood the Four Guardians of Neo Arcadia wearing their ceremonial robes and in the middle was their leader, Master X. They all looked at Zero's unmoving body as some of his hair was blowing in the wind. X kneeled down and placed a hand on Zero head. He went wide eyed and then formed a smile as a tear left his eye. **

"**So you saved him?" he whispered very faintly "Thank you, but you won't have to do it alone anymore, we'll help so rest now, ok?" he then wiped the tear, stood up and turned to look at the group.**

"**Zero is still alive, but just barely" they all went wide eyed, almost not believing X's words "So…we'll help him live until she comes to get him" **

"**She?" Leviathan was confused "She who, Master X?" **

"**Leviathan, did you already forget?" said Harpuia "Don't you remember her? She's the one that helped me when I was beaten and broken thanks to Omega" **

"**Ooooh that her" she smiled "Well I guess she could come and save him, that is, If she truly loves him" **

**Phantom then placed a hand on her shoulder "Do you really think she doesn't?" he said with that cold voice of his, sending a shiver down Leviathan's spine. **

"**Heheh, sorry, I was joking, I already know that she loves him" her expression turned sad "She loves him so much that right now, she's weeping and crying out for him to come back" they all had a sudden sad expression but Fefnir quickly fixed that.**

"**Then come on. We gotta help him, besides he owes me a rematch and I don't intend for him to die until I get it" he punched the palm of his hand and cracked his finger knuckles.**

"**Fefnir don't worry, you'll get that chance, one day" said X as he smiled to them all**

"**Well then what do you want us to do?' asked Harpuia**

"**You aren't called Sage for nothing are you?" said X**

"**Guess not" Harpuia smiled and walked over to Zero, taking out his blades he pointed them at Zero "Zero…to live or to die, hmm?" he turned into his elf form and entered his body**

"**Well then Zero, guess we'll see ya around" Leviathan took out her halberd and did the same as Harpuia**

**Now it was Fefnir's turn "Zero, you better live until I have my match with you, you got that?" he made a toothy grin and like the other two also entered Zero**

**Phantom walked over to Zero and took out his katana "Zero…you are really a hero, worthy of praise" he disappeared into Zero**

**X looked up at the sky one last time and saw Ragnarok's remains in it. Falling and burning as it passed through the atmosphere "Zero…this peace you brought…will only be short lived…there will come a time when the world needs your help again" he looked at Zero and walked over to him "So…you had best live until that time…I hate leaving the world only in your hands…but I cannot help you any longer" he kneeled down and placed a hand on his head "I'm sorry you must carry the burden of everything that happened before…goodbye for now…my friend" he disappeared into Zero. Suddenly Zero's hand moved, but only for an inch, almost unnoticeable.**

**End of Flashback**

Zero opened his eyes and to his surprise he was somewhere unknown to him.

"_An unfamiliar ceiling" _he sighed and looked to his left and was a bit wide eyed when he saw Ciel sitting down on a chair resting her head on his bed. She was sleeping, so Zero decided not to do anything that might wake her up. He looked back up and closed his eyes, falling asleep once again.

**Flashback**

**A month after Zero was brought back to the resistance, everything went back to normal.**

"**Tag, your it!" yelled Alouette as she played Tag with Zero**

**Zero ran after her with mild speed but it was enough to catch up to her. He was about to tag her when Colbor appeared from the corner and collided with Zero. They both fell to the floor and Alouette giggled and get running away.**

"**Ouch, sorry Zero" said Colbor holding his aching head**

"**No, it's ok" Zero stood up and helped Colbor stand up again. "Uhh, did you see where Alouette ran off to?" he asked**

"**Well…I think she went in the direction of Ms. Ciel's room" he said pointing behind him "But that way also leads to Cerveau's lab, so I can't really say" he shrugged his shoulders**

"**Well thanks anyway, I'll go check Cerveau's lab first" he ran off to the lab**

"**Heh, it's only been a month and it's like nothing happened" said Colbor and walked away whistling.**

**Zero made it to Cerveau's lab and thankfully Cerveau's not there so Zero goes in and searches the place for Alouette. After 10 minutes of searching, he finally noticed she wasn't there. **

"**Huh, guess she's with Ciel" Zero was going to turn back but noticed something on his desk, he walked up to it and when he picked up the papers it seemed like they were blueprints for something. He looked at the name on the top of the first paper it read**

"**Z-Pile driver?" he said a loud**

"**You know Zero, searching through plans when they aren't finished is rude" **

**Zero jumped at the voice and looked back to see Cerveau in the doorway, arms crossed, clutching a wrench, tapping one foot on the floor and one eyebrow raised. Zero gulped, even he's afraid of what Cerveau would do to him. Last time he did this was for the Recoil Rod and Cerveau dismantled one of Zero's arms for touching and somewhat scrunching up the blueprints. **

"**S-sorry Cerveau, but I thought Alouette was here" **

"**I can see that" he said, obviously not buying a word Zero was saying**

"**Well, its true, but then I saw this blueprints and I couldn't help but take a peek" Zero set the blueprints on the desk again and headed to the door but Cerveau was still blocking the way.**

"**Well Zero, next time you play tag with Alouette, you might want to remember that not even she, enters my lab without my permission" he flashed Zero a serious look, and clutched the wrench menacingly "Do I make myself clear?" that sounded more like a threat than a question**

"**Crystal clear" and with that Zero bolted out of the room on route to Ciel's room**

**When he was far away, Cerveau started laughing.**

"**Hahahahah, I did not think that would work again" Cerveau then went to his desk and started working on Zero's new weapon.**

**On route to Ciel's room**

"**I gotta remember never to go back in there when Cerveau's not there, other wise I'm gonna get a nonfunctional arm to work with for a week again" **

**He saw Ciel room and noticed that the door was slightly opened. He also heard singing coming from inside.**

"**Huh? What's that sound" he walked closer to the room and peeked inside, he saw Ciel humming a song, while brushing her hair, and he saw Alouette on a chair next to Ciel, looking at her while she hummed.**

"_**That's a beautiful tune she's singing" thought Zero as he kept listening "I wonder what it is?" he finally realized he was staring, blushed a bit, and stepped back, knocking on the door.**_

**Ciel stopped humming "Who is it?" **

"**Zero" he replied **

"**Be right there" she was about to stand up when Alouette grabbed her hand**

"**Hide me!" she whispered**

"**Huh?" Ciel was confused**

"**Me and Zero where playing tag, pleeeeeeeeease hide me" she pleaded using her puppy eyes while covering her mouth with her doll in a very, very cute fashion**

**Ciel could not say no "Ok, let me think, hmmmm" she looked around her room "Ahh, I know, hide in the closet" she pointed to the closet door, next to the bathroom.**

"**Yay!" she whispered loudly and ran off to the closet, closing the door and hiding with Ciel's clothes**

"**Ok Zero, you can come in now" said Ciel sitting down back on her chair**

**The door slid open and he walked inside, looking around the room for Alouette**

"**Ciel, have you seen Alouette anywhere?" he asked, even though he already knows where she is**

"**Hmm, I don't know, haven't seen her anywhere today" she shrugged her shoulders as she motioned to the closet with her eyes**

"**Huh, is that right" he said as he walked over to the closet "Then I guess I better" he opened the closet and saw Alouette "Leave, but not before doing this" he moved one hand and tagged Alouette on her shoulder "Tag, your it" he then walked away from the closet and Alouette walked behind him "Shoot, I lost" **

"**Hey, don't worry Alouette, you're actually getting better at this" said Zero with a reassuring, yet not enough to be called un-Zero like, smile**

"**Really?" asked Alouette her little voice full of hope**

"**Yes, really" he gave her a thumbs up and walked over to Ciel who was happily smiling at the two**

"**Hey uh Ciel" **

"**Yes Zero, what is it?" she looked over at him, and she was a bit surprised when she heard a little bit of nervousness in his voice, yet only people that know Zero really well could tell, as such only Cerveau, Ciel herself and Neige where the only ones qualified for this position. **

"**Before I came in here, I heard you humming a song"**

**Ciel blushed "Oh, you did, well that was uhhh…it was ummm" she got immediately nervous "It was uhhh…" she couldn't find the right words to say**

"**Well, it's ok, you don't have to tell me if you don't want to" he then turned and walked out the door but not before he said "Guess I'll see ya later then" with that he walked away and the door slid close when Zero left**

**Ciel sighed, her blush still on her face, which Alouette noticed "Sis, why is your face red are you sick or something?" **

**Ciel looked to Alouette and then shook her head, the blush finally leaving her face "No Alouette I'm not sick, it's just…something else" **

"**Can you tell me what it is, maybe I can help?" Alouette had an innocent smile on her face, a smile which made Ciel smile to her too**

**Ciel sighed "Sorry Alouette, it's...a grown up thing" **

"**Oh" her smile turned to a frown but it came back as a smile "Ok then, don't worry, whatever it is I'm sure it'll be just fine" Alouette walked to the door "Bye Sis, I'm gonna go play with Aunty Rouge and Aunty Jaune" Alouette waved goodbye and walked out the door. **

**Ciel sighed and hit her desk with her head, leaving it there as she talked to herself "Wonder what Zero would have thought of me, had he known what that song was about" she sighed again and raised her head from the desk, when she heard someone knock on her door "Come in" she said in a voice that meant she didn't really want any visitors right now "Well you seem to be in a bit of a bad mood" said Cerveau as he walked into the room, chuckling a little bit**

"**Oh, hi Cerveau" she said trying to sound as cheery as possible by waving to him.**

"**Ok" he sighed "What happened?" he asked sitting down on a chair next to her bed, where Alouette had sat down before **

**Ciel already knew from past experience that trying to fool Cerveau was impossible and so was Zero half the time, or rather almost all the time. **

"**Well, Zero heard me hum the sung I made" she bonked her head on her desk again, again leaving it there**

"**And don't tell me" he was smiling at this "You didn't work enough courage to tell him what it was about did you?"**

"**No" she sighed "No I didn't" she turned to look at her right and saw a picture frame with a photo of the members of the base. Everyone was there in the photo smiling for the camera, except for Zero, who had his arms crossed as he gave his usual non-caring face, though if one were to look close enough, they could barely see a tinge of happiness in the warrior's eyes. **

"**He's just so hard to talk to sometimes" she kept her gaze on the photo as she reached for it and raised her head from the table bringing the photo closer to her "And I've noticed that since we brought him back he seems to be spending more time alone on the roof" **

"**Well I don't know either why he does that, but" he raised a finger as to make a point "You could talk to him about it" he pointed at Ciel**

"**Me?" she looked back at Cerveau who had a smile on his face "I-I-I uh…I wouldn't know what to say to him" she looked down **

**Cerveau sighed "Ciel, lets be reasonable here for a minute alright?" Ciel looked back at him**

"**You know as well as I do, that Zero is never one to start a conversation" he had his index finger raised as he talked again as to make a point "If you want to know why he does that, or whether he likes you too or not, the most rational answer would be for you to start the conversation"**

"**But I-" **

**Cerveau interrupted her "No buts" Cerveau got up from his chair and walked over to her placing a hand on her shoulder "Ciel you know that something is troubling him" Ciel nodded having noticed this "Then you should talk to him about it"**

**Ciel sighed in defeat "I guess I should" **

**Cerveau smiled again "Now that's the Ciel Zero l-" he put a hand over his own mouth, stopping his sentence**

**Ciel looked at him, eyes clearly filled with curiosity "Zero what Cerveau?" she asked**

**Cerveau looked at Ciel and walked to the door "Sorry Ciel, but it's not my place to tell you, besides I'm sure not even Zero himself has realized it yet either" he chuckled and headed back to his lab.**

"_**I wonder what he was gonna say?" **_**she thought to herself **_**" I guess Cerveau's right, if I want to talk to Zero, I better start, maybe something'll happen" **_**Ciel then walked out of the room, completely forgetting she had not put on her helmet.**

**She walked towards the roof, seeing as how Zero has been here a lot these days and sure enough he was there, sitting by the edge enjoying the breeze of the afternoon sun. Ciel breathed in deeply and exhaled, she then walked over to Zero, who turned back to see who it was. "H-hi Zero" she waved hello "Hey" was Zero's casual reply before he turned back to watching the horizon.**

**Ciel sighed at this; her previous confidence had just left her "Uhh, Ze-Zero..." **

**He looked back "Yes?" **

**"I-I wanted to ask you something" she looked anywhere that was not his eyes **

**"That would be?" **

**"Well...I've noticed that since you came back you've been a little...distant from the others" she looked to his eyes and noticed that she could see a hint of nervousness "I-I-I was wondering, why is that?" **

**"Hmm, well I haven't really noticed that, you sure you aren't just imagining things?" he asked standing up **

**"I...I'm not sure" **

**Zero put a hand on her shoulder, which made her look up at him **

**"Maybe you're just working too hard, you should take a break" he patted Ciel on the shoulder and then walked away inside the base again, leaving Ciel alone to contemplate on what happened **

**End of flashback **

Ciel woke up, having sensed that something was off. She rubbed her still sleepy eyes and sat straight up again. She looked at Zero who was still asleep. As she gazed at his sleeping form, Ciel's thoughts then turned to what happened that day after Zero left.

**Flashback **

**Ciel just stood there, watching the sunset. She felt it, she saw it; Zero was acting a bit different than before. Yet, she didn't know why and it hurt her; she felt Zero didn't trust her enough to share his problems with her. She turned around to go back inside the base. **

**"Ciel" **

**She turned around and saw an orb in front of her which turned into X. **

**"X?" she thought she was seeing things "Weren't you-" **

**"Dead?" he cut her off "I guess I should be, but here I am, only well, see through" he laughed, which made Ciel smile. But then his tone turned serious "But, enough of that Ciel, we need to talk"**

**Ciel was taken aback by the sudden change "What is it that you want to talk about?" she asked**

"**I'm sure you have noticed that Zero has been acting strange, have you not?"**

"**Y-yes, I have noticed it, even if he says the opposite, I can sense that something is troubling him"**

"**I'm here to tell you why" he said in his normal voice again, the one which made everyone in Neo Arcadia respect and adore him as a leader. He extended his hand to her**

**She hesitated and looked up "Come on, don't you trust me?" he asked, as he formed a smile with his lips "If you really want to know why, then take my hand, I'll show you everything, it isn't fair to keep it from you any longer" Ciel didn't really know what he meant but nonetheless nodded in confirmation and took his hand. They then disappeared from the roof and reappeared in X's old base.**

"**Where are we…X?" she looked next to her and saw that X had floated and had been typing on some keyboard. "What are you doing X?" she asked**

**He stopped what he was doing and looked at her, giving her a reassuring smile, before pointing to a big monitor in front of her, which turned on, revealing a big Z.**

"**I told you, didn't I?" he said "Now come here" **

**She nodded and walked over to where X was, making sure to look where she was stepping on as the place had mostly fallen apart from years of disuse. When she made it to where he was, he moved out of the way and motioned for her towards the keyboard. **

"**Here you will learn everything about what happened when me, Zero, and the rest of the Maverick Hunters, where fighting against Sigma all those years ago, you'll learn our lives, or rather Zero's, since he had the biggest role in those times" **

**"What are you talking about X? Hasn't all of this already been told? It also used to be in the data archives of Neo Arcadia"**

**X merely shook his head "Only the bits the government wanted the populace to know and those bits didn't tell the whole story. Example, who made Zero?**

**"Uhh..." Ciel couldnt answer and something clicked _"Come to think of it, I don't really know who made Zero; I know almost nothing of him..."_**

**"See?" said X "You don't know, why? Because no one was allowed to know, they almost wiped away my friends memories of who created Zero and for what purpose after we discovered the truth...even mine" he had a solemn look, like recalling past memories hurt "I hope that..." he looked at Ciel "When you read all this...you're views of Zero don't change, in the beginning, he couldn't control himself"**

"**What do you mean?" she looked to him, he looked to the monitor and sadly sighed **

"**He…" he sighed and then raised his hand towards the keyboard and it typed by itself, showing on the monitor Zero's bio. He pointed towards the first couple sentences, which Ciel read and couldn't believe.**

"**Zero is the last of Dr. Wily's robot masters and also the original progenitor of the maverick virus. Originally a maverick that turned good after the virus passed on to Sigma. As a maverick, Zero displayed horrifying power and tremendous strength, proven when he singlehandedly, killed all the rank S hunters sent to stop him. Cornered in an abandoned factory by Sigma's squad, Sigma himself fought Zero alone, only to suffer critical wounds. But somehow, Sigma was able to defeat Zero and passed the virus onto himself, thus making Sigma, the second maverick and the new keeper of the virus." she read, again and again, 5 times and she still couldn't believe it, but there it was, right in front of her. "Is…is that true…X?" she asked without taking her eyes of the monitor**

**X had his eyes downcast, and he replied sadly "Yes…it's true…"**

**Ciel couldn't believe it still, but she knew it was true. She looked towards X and he motioned towards the keyboard. She hesitantly placed her hands over the keyboard and started typing on it, revealing on the monitor more and more of Zero's life. From the time of his creation, to the things he did as a maverick, to what happened when he was a hunter to the time when he was being researched for the maverick virus. More and more as she read, she kept reading and X stayed by her side, the sad expression never leaving his face and he saw the mixed emotions in Ciel's eyes. When she finally reached the time of his research; the data stops there and she fell on her knees.**

"**Are you okay?" asked X, knowing full well she wasn't**

"**Yeah…sorry…I just…this is all too…" she couldn't find the right words; there was too much information to swallow right now.**

"**Don't worry…and…I'm sorry…" he sadly said**

"**Why are you sorry?" she asked still looking down trying to think through the headache she had**

"**I'm sure you weren't expecting any of this…and for that…I'm sorry" he extended his hand to help her up which she gladly took**

"**No…it's ok…" **

**X put his hands behind his back "Have you figured it out now?"**

**"I...I have a vague idea" she had her eyes downcast**

**"Well, let me fill in the blanks" he sighed "He is unconsciously trying to keep his distance from all of you"**

**"But...why?" **

**"You read it did you not, what happened to everyone after Zero decided to examine himself?"**

**Ciel's eyes filled with sadness and hate "Yes...I know what happened" sadness for what happened to everyone and hate for the one who made it all happen**

**"He right now does not remember, but he is starting too. A part of him doesn't want to risk loosing the only friends he has left and so he's becoming distant from all of you" X looked directly to her eyes "Now my question...Will you let him?"**

**"Huh?" **

**"Will you let him become distant, sever the ties he has with his friends and try to separate all of you from his life" _"Especially you, the one who has brought Zero out of his shell" he thought_**

**"...I..." Ciel took a deep breath and looked X directly to his eyes "I won't let him"**

**X smiled "Why is that?"**

**"Because..." Ciel then smiled, looking determined "Because I love him and I want to help him"**

**"Good answer" he said, a happy smile across his face**

**X eyes seemed to drift, because instead of seeing Ciel, he saw Alia. The resemblance was uncanny and he almost lost himself and hugged her but was able to keep himself together and only cleared his throat. **

**"You know something; you remind me so much of Alia it's spooky huh?"**

**Ciel blinked not knowing whether this was a complement or not "Thank... you?" **

**X laughed at this "Don't worry, I'm just glad Zero has someone like you to who cares for him, more than others" **

**Ciel sensed he was also hiding something just like Cerveau "X, are you hiding something from me?" **

**X sweat dropped and waved his arms in front of him defensively from the accusation "Uh, nope, nothing at all, well anyway, we better head back, I'm sure everyone is wondering where you are" and with that they were already at the rooftop of the base **

**Ciel was amazed "X…how did you do that?" **

"**Heheh, it's a gift I guess" he shrugged his shoulders "Oh and take this" he summoned in his palm a data disk **

"**What is this?" she asked taking the disk and looking at it**

"**That disk contains the data of me, Zero, and the four guardians of Neo Arcadia"**

**Ciel gasped "Why are you giving something this important to me?"**

"**Because there will come a time where our powers will be needed, but we will not be here to lend it"**

"**And what do you want me to do with this? How do you expect me to use your powers to help?" she asked **

"**That is something for you to find out, did I not imply that you are a smart person?" he smiled at her and chuckled**

"**Guess so, huh?" she giggled**

"**Well I must be off now, but remember this Ciel, the hardest battles are against one's self" with that he disappeared**

**Ciel stood there, dumbfounded by what he said, but just shrugged it off and walked inside the base, for a good night's sleep, since she came back at 11:00 p.m. **

**End of flahsback**

Ciel was staring at Zero's sleeping form but turned to look at the door when she heard someone enter.

"How is he?" asked Prairie

"Still asleep" Ciel looked back at Zero "I wonder when he will wake up..."

Prairie walked over to Ciel and placed a hand on her left shoulder "Dont worry, I'm sure he'll wake up soon" Praire removed her hand from her shoulder and looked at Zero _"And when he does, the both of you have a lot of explaining to do" _she started walking back to the door "I'll bring you your lunch later ok?"

Ciel replied "ok" while still looking at Zero.

When she heard the door close, she sighed _"Zero...I doubt I will ever be something more to you than a friend, because...you still love her...don't you, Zero?"_

A single tear left her right eye but she quickly wiped it away _"Then...as a friend...I'll help you like a friend should...but as the person who's in love with you...I promise you...that I will also protect you...no matter what...Zero"_

**Author's Note: Hope you enjoyed the ch. And I cancelled that little game I made seeing as no one looked like they were going to answer or review anytime soon. Well anyway, hope you liked it and I'll see you all later.**


	8. Chapter 8

**Author's Note: HELLO PEOPLE! Sorry for the huge wait! I had a massive case for writer's block for this story and also I had sadly lost my inspiration to keep writing this, BUT thanks to a good friend for showing me a super vid, it brought my spark back AND also i want to say again that I am really sorry for the huge wait, well know that that's settled, ON WITH THE STORY!**

Another day had passed and the Guardians were getting restless. Some of them, mostly the recruits, thought that having two people, who they knew nothing off, was beyond dangerous. Also having one that looks like Giro and another that resembles Prairie, is also pretty unnerving. Vent was one of these people. He did not trust this man who looked like his Boss, the man he looked upon as his idol, as his father. Aile was also having such thoughts although she was patient, unlike the rest. Prairie was also patient although the girl who looked like her sister had refused to tell anyone of who they were until her partner wakes up, needless to say, she understood but she was also secretly hoping that was her sister. Fleuve was just like Prairie although he was the one who was the more level-headed of the two since he was the one who had calmed down Prairie the day after their wounds had healed, mostly Ciel, since some of Zero's wounds had been healed by Ciel. Grey and Ashe had already left. They would have stayed a bit longer but with Ashe being the new commander of the Hunter's and Grey being Second-in Command, they can't really leave for long periods and so had to go back. It was around 10:00 o'clock in the morning when Zero had woken up again.

He opened his eyes and blinked a couple times, trying to adjust to the lighting of the room. When he could see clearly he looked his left and again saw Ciel sleeping there. This time he sat up and before waking Ciel up, he looked around the room, and came to one conclusion.

"_I have absolutely no idea where I am"_ Zero looked at Ciel _"Maybe Ciel knows, well better wake her up"_

He shook her a bit "Hey Ciel, come on wake up"

"hmm, just 5 more minutes Zero" she murmured sleepily, but then her eyes shot open and she stood straight looking at the man in front of her "Z-zero" tears welling up in her eyes she lunged forward and wrapped him up in a tight hug, to which Zero was caught off guard.

"You're finally awake!" she sobbed into his shoulder "I missed you"

Zero, still not used to this kind of physical contact, just rubbed Ciel back; not knowing what else he was supposed to do in a situation like this.

Zero was still quiet, but he seemed to be, happy, if the small, almost nonexistent, smile was anything to go by on.

Ciel had finally calmed down enough and had released him of the hug and sat back down on the chair.

"I'm glad you're finally awake, Zero"

"Actually, I woke up a few hours ago, but I saw you sleeping and I was still a bit sleepy, so I wanted to take a nap, but I guess I fell asleep again"

When Zero looked over at Ciel again, he saw that her hair was covering her eyes, and she was looking down.

"Uhh, Ciel…are you ok?"

"IDIOT!" she screamed

Next thing everybody in the HQ heard was the sound of a slap, a strong one at that since it kept ringing throughout the base and everybody went "oooohhhh", most recognizing that slap, and it had been dubbed the "Guy pissed off his girlfriend really bad". Prairie, Fleuve, Muguet and Rose had thought one thing, "Vent must have pissed Aile off again". Reason they thought this, Vent and Aile had been dating since the first year after Serpent's demise. And so far, Vent has gotten that slap 6 times. The fourth time, in their third year of dating, was the worst one, because he had tripped and landed directly on Aile's chest. Vent was unconscious for the whole week, and Aile was pissed, thinking Vent had done it on purpose, mostly because he had tripped in the base, where the floors are flat. It took Prairie, Fleuve, Muguet, Vent, after he woke up, Carellet and Thon to calm her down. Well long story short, Vent was crying over his now empty wallet after Aile gave him a chance to prove he was being truth full about tripping and when they were done, Aile needed a new closet. She now had two closets stuffed full of clothes. And Guardian's get quite a lot of e-crystals (**A/N: You know what? I'm just going to say e-c, it's easier on me, and you, and to mostly everyone, just remember, e-crystals are currency here, that is all)**, and Vent had been saving his for weeks and it was all gone in one day. Well enough of that, let's get back to what's happening now.

Zero was unsurprised at Ciel for slapping him, but he was surprised because of how strong it was. He raised his left hand towards his now reddened cheek and winced slightly when he touched it; it hurt, quite a bit.

"I deserved that"

Ciel was looking down and Zero couldn't see her face but he knew that she was trying to hold on and not cry.

"I'm sorry"

Ciel looked up at Zero and though she heard wrong "What did you say?"

"That I'm sorry, sorry for worrying you" he looked away while massaging his cheek

Ciel looked down "Thank you"

This caused Zero to look at her "For what?"

She raised her head up and smiled at him "For being ok"

"O-oh" he stuttered, something he was unused too.

A minute later the door slid open and then entered Prairie, Rose and Muguet.

"Oh good you're awake" said Prairie, she then got serious "Meet me in the commander's room in one hour"

She turned and left the room

Muguet sighed and Rose went over to Zero.

"Uhh, miss, could you wait outside the room, until we finish examining your friend?" asked Rose

Ciel nodded as she walked away Zero saw she was wearing new clothes. She now had the traditional Mega Man jacket in pink, beige shorts, the traditional Mega Man shoes also in pink; she wasn't wearing gloves and instead was wearing the golden bracelets that everyone wears now, the white ear pieces and she had her hair tied into a low, thin ponytail. She looked…nice in Zero's view anyway. She left the room and Rose asked Zero if he could stand up. He nodded and got out of bed only to fall, face first onto the floor. He raised himself with his hands and shook his head. Muguet helped him stand up and walked him over to a chair. He sat down and muttered thanks as they examined him. 45 minutes later Zero left the room wearing the same clothes he was wearing before only new. They were a long sleeved red Mega Man jacket, long beige pants and red shoes. He saw Ciel waiting for him next to the door. Muguet also left the room followed by Rose, the two then told Zero and Ciel that they would lead them to the commander's room. They followed them and arrived at the room, opening the door and walking inside they saw a Prairie sitting in her chair looking out the big window while the 3 operators worked diligently below. Standing next to Prairie was Fleuve, Vent and Aile.

As Zero and Ciel entered the room they could feel Vent and Praire's gaze looking at them questioningly. For a few minutes nothing was said in the headquarters, the tension was gradually becoming thicker as time seemed to slow down to a crawl.

"I suppose we should get to the point, then" Prairie finally spoke up, albeit in a "no nonsense" voice "I am Prairie, Comander of the Guardians. What are your names?"

Ciel was silent for a moment, and Zero spoke up for them:

"I...am Rezon, and she is Elice."

Ciel looked at Zero; both shared a look and then looked back at the commander

"I see…" Prairie answered skeptically "and what were you two doing at the park before the incident?"

"We were visiting the park, like everybody else" spoke Ciel nervously

"Is that the truth?" she asked unconvinced

"Y-yes, it's the truth, we just wanted to visit the park" answered Ciel quietly

"Then explain why the other four times you were sighted, mavericks always seemed too appear. If I had to guess, I think you're the ones controlling the mavericks and making it look like you're innocent"

Ciel looked down.

"The both of you are also emitting an incredibly powerful energy signature, one which is only seen on the Mega Men. So my other question, are you both Mega Man and are you responsible for the maverick attacks throughout the city?" she asked sternly

Ciel was about reply when Zero spoke first "We aren't these 'Mega Man' you spoke off, but in a way, we are the cause of the outbreaks"

Vent was about to walk over to them but Prairie held up a hand to stop him. "What do you mean?"

"You already said it, there after our energy, for what…I don't know, but someone else is controlling these mavericks"

Prairie thought about this and Fleuve asked "Rezon I have a question"

Fleuve walked over to the control panel and typed in a few keys. At the window, a screen appeared and it showed Zero when he had transformed, and another screen next to that one showed Ciel after she had destroyed the maverick that was going to attack Praire, also donning her armor.

"In here, both of you are wearing armor that resembles each other, except for the helmet. What I want to know is how did you do that? In both, as I can see, both your necklaces turned silver after you transformed and that has left me with the conclusion that your necklaces have something to do with your transformation, since now, there golden again"

Zero and Ciel stayed quiet.

"If you do not answer it's the same as saying yes"

They still didn't answer and Fleuve sighed

"Then can you tell me why is it that you're energy output is the same as the Mega Man?"

Again they didn't answer

"Is there anything you can tell us about yourselves, where you come from, and your powers?" asked Fleuve

Ciel hesitantly shook her head

Fleuve sight again "I thought as much"

"_This is getting us nowhere" thought Prairie "They haven't told us anything besides not being the leaders of the mavericks" Prairie sighed "As much as I don't want to do this I don't have a choice"_

She took a deep breath "Alright, seeing as how you won't tell us anything at the present time, I have no choice but to put you under arrest. You'll be kept here until we arrive at our next base, where you will be imprisoned until you tell us what we want to know. Also you will be kept under surveillance so you don't try anything, understood?"

Ciel and Zero nodded

"Good, now Aile, please show them to their rooms"

Aile nodded and walked over to them, Ciel stepped aside to allow Aile pass, which she did and they followed her out. When they were out, Prairie fell back on to her chair and sighed, rubbing her temples with her hands.

"You alright Prairie?" asked Vent

Prairie nodded "You can leave now Vent"

Vent thanked her and left the room too.

"You know it's them don't you?" asked Fleuve to Prairie

"Yes I do. But, I can't do anything right now"

"I know Prairie, but from the looks of things, it seems he's been protecting her for a very long time"

Prairie nodded "My biggest question is how? Serpent killed every member of the research team, which Sis was apart off, so how? And we also figured out that it was Serpent who destroyed our old home"

Fleuve also wanted to know how "I also want to know, at least we don't have to worry about Serpent ever again, but…you're Sis didn't look as brave as before. From what I saw now, something happened to her, something bad"

"I know, and I have a very bad feeling it's because of Serpent"

"Well, for now, we just have to gain their trust, it's not like our Hero trusted all of us at the beginning anyway"

Prairie chuckled

That night at midnight

Ciel and Zero were sleeping in their room. When they had entered their rooms, they saw the double bunk bed to the left, a potted plant in the right corner of the room, to the left of the table that was across the room from the beds. There was also a window on other side of the room and a bathroom to right of the table. It was a fairly simple yet comfy room. Ciel woke up in cold sweat from a nightmare she had, just like all the other's she seems to be having, though this one was worse than. It was the same theme as all the others. People closest to her all dying by different people. Though this one, involved her killing everyone dear to her, only to fight Zero and they both end up killing each other at the end. She got out of bed and walked over to the bathroom door, opened it and walked towards the faucet. She turned the nozzle and splashed cold water on her face.

"It's just a dream, get a hold of yourself" she told herself. She shook her head and wiped her face with a towel. She walked outside the bathroom and to her bed; she sat on it and tried to organize her thoughts. She lied on the bed again and tried to go to sleep but after another hour of tossing and turning, sleep never came. She gave up on going to sleep and looked towards the door. There was something she had to do. She walked over to the door and pressed her ear to it, after hearing snoring from the other side; she slid the door open and saw her 'guard' sleeping on the job. She resisted the urge to face palm herself and just stepped over him.

She walked towards a specific room. She found the room and slid the door open and walked inside. There on the bed below, was Vent while on the top was bed was Aile. She looked around the room and saw her targets, one was on the desk while Vent was holding onto the other one. She walked over to Vent and looked around the room, making as little noise as possible, to look for something of maybe equal weight. She already knew how much they weighed, and found another object of equal weight, or close to it, a small make up kit. She thought of what Aile what think of Vent when she finds her make up kit, in Vent's arm. She suppressed the thought and walked over to Vent. She made sure she was holding the kit and she did a very quick swap between both items right before Vent turned to his other side, giving his back to her. She then picked up her other target from the bed and left the room, just as quiet. She made it back to her room and, after steeping over the sleeping guard, walked over to the desk.

"Wake up" she whispered

Both biometals activated and looked at her

"Where's Vent and Aile?" asked Model X

"Don't worry, there fine, I just took you from them for a minute to-"

"YOU TOOK US? THIEF!" yelled Model X

Ciel immdiatdly grabbed him to quiet him down.

"Shut up, will you?" she said "Just, please trust me, I won't do anything bad, ok?" she told Model X

Model X, stopped trying to escape and calmed down. Ciel let go of him and he floated next to Model Z.

"Now, why did you take us?" asked Model Z

"For this" Ciel had a serious expression in her face "Activate code #8, password: Remembrance"

The biometals gem glowed for a minute and then the biometals turned to Ciel

"Creator, you're back!" said Model X. He flew next to Ciel, to her left, and Model Z to her right

"I guess so, how've you two been and where are the others?"

"The others were taken by the 4 Hunters" said Model Z

Ciel turned to him "4 Hunters?"

"Yes, but we lost contact with them, I don't even know if there alive anymore" spoke Model Z solemnly

"I see, Model X, pass the information to me"

"What are you talking about Creator? You're not a reploid…are you?"

Ciel smiled and lifted her hair from her forehead to reveal a red upside down triangle "I am one now, so you know what do right?"

"Of course Creator" Model X floated in front of Ciel and a small laser shot from his forehead into Ciel's triangle. Ciel's eyes disappeared and in their place where 0's and 1's. After a few minutes of this, Model X stopped transmitting and Ciel blinked and her eyes were back to normal.

"So many things have happened…" she set her hands on her face "And all because of me"

"Model Z"

Model Z looked towards the voice and saw Zero on his bed. Model Z floated to him.

Model Z already knew what Zero wanted and the same small laser shot to Zero's triangle. The same thing happened with his eyes as Ciel's and after a few minutes Model Z stopped and Zero blinked and his eyes went back to normal.

"Hmm, more Model W's huh?"

"So many lives lost, all because of my mistakes" Ciel let a tear fall "Even Giro's, I was wondering why you weren't with him anymore Model Z"

"Yes, Giro's gone, though some of the Guardians had hoped he would have come back one day" he said

"So that's why Vent called me Boss, huh? Because I look just like him"

"Now the question is, what are we going to do?" asked Ciel "Leaving all those Model W pieces in the ocean is not a good idea, they should have been destroyed"

"Well for now, there's nothing you can do. You have to stay on this ship until we reach the base, and then, well, unless you talk you can't do anything, I'm sorry Creator"

"I know, Model X, but you know why we can't tell anyone who we are, you won't tell anyone right?"

"No, I won't. Unless you wish for me to tell, I won't do otherwise" spoke Model X

"Me neither" said Model Z

"Good, well, you two had better head back to your room" said Ciel, stifling a yawn

Both Model X and Model Z nodded, and left the room.

"What's the plan?" asked Zero

"We do nothing for now except try and gain their trust and then maybe we can think of what to do with Model W"

Zero nodded and lied back down to go to sleep. Ciel walked over to her own bed and sighed. She lied back down and hoped she could sleep. Almost answering her prayers she fell asleep.

**A/N: I hope it was good. Also, listen up, this is important. You readers will decide the next chapter. It will either be what happenes next or the first of the major past chapters, which start from Megaman X4. Though I'm cutting throught the games after that, only Megaman X4 will be shown then what happens after Command Mission. Yes, for me, Command Mission is what happenes after X8, you don't like it, sue me. Anyway, review or message me your answer and I'll see ya all later.**


	9. Chapter 9

**A/N: Here's the next chapter of Megaman ZXC and most people wanted the next chapter instead of a past story and so I bring you the next chapter and remember to review please. Enjoy the chapter. **

**Disclaimer: a bit late but oh well. I don't own the Megaman franchise. If I did, well, this might have been official. **

The Guardian Base had just touched down in the Guardian Training Base or North Base as it was easily called, located in the forest of Inner Peace at a much undisclosed part of the forest. From below the base a hatch opened up and some Guardians took jeeps out while others walked out. Prairie had been one of the first ones out and behind her were Zero and Ciel who were both handcuffed and behind them were Vent on their left and Aile on their right and right next to them were Carrelet to Zero's right and Hareng to Ciel's left. As they moved towards the base there were whispers among the Guardians. Zero was able to get some of them but they were all mostly if he was Giro; it irked him.

At the base commander's office

"Ah, Commander it is nice to see you" smiled the commander

"It's nice to see you again too Captain Wolf"

Wolf, a white haired reploid who's the leader of the Stealth Team. He's a tall reploid, the same height as Zero, with brown eyes, short white hair that covers his right eye and reaches his shoulder and a black version of the normal Guardian Uniform. He also has the same badge that Vent and Aile wear on their jackets and he always carries his black colored sniper.

"Are those the prisoners?" he asked as he looked upon Zero and Ciel

"Yes they are. Rezon" she gestured to Zero "And Elice" she gestured to Ciel

"I see" he looked upon Rezon and frowned "I'll make sure to make them talk, one way or the other"

"Appreciated; we'll be staying here for one month to see the new recruits and then we're leaving. If they talk by then, they'll come with us, if they don't, well, I'll leave that up to you"

"Of course Commander" he bowed to her "Could you take them to the holding cells?" he asked Carrelet and Hareng

"Of course sir!" they saluted and left with Zero and Ciel

4 days later

It's been four days since Zero and Ciel had been sent to the base and so far, the Guardians have gotten nothing out of them. Nothing worked and they've tried as much as they could those 4 days and yet nothing. If they didn't know any better, they'd think they didn't know anything, but the Guardians aren't easily fooled. Ciel had been thinking how to get their trust without revealing who they were and so far, she's come up with squat. Zero, she didn't know what he was thinking. Right now, Ciel and Zero were sleeping in their separate cells, right across from each other, when Ciel sensed something, a familiar feeling.

"Zero" she whispered "Zero wake up!"

"I am up" he answered while still laying down on the bed with his eyes closed

"Oh" she forgot, Zero was a light sleeper "Well anyway, I sense something"

Zero opened one eye and he got out of bed "What do you sense?"

"A biometal" she answered seriously

Guardian Base, Prairie's room

Prairie was soundly asleep in her bed, completely oblivious of the danger that was coming. Her door opened and in walked a normal guardian troop. The trooper saw Prairie and walked inside. When he was halfway into the room, the Guardian then seemed to disappear in the darkness and from it appeared

"Come on Zero, it's this way!" called out Ciel as she ran towards the Guardian base

"Where's it coming from!" he asked

"From Prairie's room"

Zero nodded and he grabbed his necklace and transformed. Ciel was about to ask why but she understood why. She also transformed and they ran much faster towards the base.

The man in Prairie's room took out a kunai as he walked over to Prairie's sleeping figure. He raised his kunai and before he struck he was kicked into the wall.

Prairie jolted up and saw Ciel firing both of her guns at the wall were the man was. The man jumped away and threw kunai at Zero and Ciel whom dodged them with ease.

The man dashed for the door and Zero gave chase.

"Prairie, are you alright?" asked a concerned Ciel

"That was Siarnaq!" he looked towards Ciel "And how did you get out?"

Ciel sighed "Ill tell you later"

Ciel then dashed out the room. Ciel was able to locate Zero and saw two energy signatures, one she knew was Zero and the other she now knew belonged to Siarnaq, and it looked like they were both fighting, with Zero being the clear winner.

Ciel, as she ran down the hall, saw the alarm, and even though she knew it was going to bite back, she punched it and the alarm sounded waking up both bases.

The soldiers that were already outside saw Ciel and opened fire. Ciel dodged all the shots with ease and ran towards the clearing where she knew Zero was fighting Siarnaq. She made it just in time to see Siarnaq ducking to avoid Zero's blade and jumped away taking out Model P in the process.

"MEGAMERGE!" Siarnaq was swallowed up in darkness and reappeared wearing his Mega Man armor.

"_So he's one of the ones using my biometal, but then, who's he working for? Or is he doing this on his own?" _Ciel decided to worry later and she took both of her buster shots out and charged them and aimed them at Siarnaq who dodged.

Siarnaq threw 4 kunais at Ciel and he ducked back to avoid another of Zero's slashes. Ciel dodged all 4 kunais and fired two shots from her guns. Siarnaq dodged the shots and summoned a big shuriken and blocked Zero's slash. Siarnaq jumped back and avoided another one of Ciel's shots and he kept blocking Zero's slashes as he kept trying to dodge Ciel's shots.

The Guardians then arrived at the site and they all aimed their guns at the three of them. Zero and Ciel looked around them and Siarnaq disappeared into the ground.

Zero tried to get him but one Guardian shot his arm, luckily he dodged.

"HOLD YOUR FIRE!" ordered Prairie

The Guardians still aimed at them

"LOWER YOUR WEAPONS, NOW!" she yelled

They did as told

"You saved my life, why?" called out Prairie

Zero and Ciel didn't answer

"Answer me! Why did you save the life of someone you don't know?"

"We can't" said Ciel quietly

"You can't what? Can't tell me? Why? Why can't you tell me huh? We saved your lives and you can't tell us anything?"

"WE JUST CAN'T, ALOUETTE!" yelled Ciel but immediately she clasped a hand over her mouth as her eyes widened

Zero's also as he stared at Prairie

Prairie was shocked that anyone knew that name, her old name. The name she discarded the day the research team died, the day her sister supposedly died.

The guardians started whispering, some wondering who this Alouette was? And also wondering why she said that to their Commander, who they knew her name was Prairie…that was her name…wasn't it?

Prairie started seeing the whispering and the gazes of the Guardians

"You will both come with me" she ordered "NOW!"

Zero and Ciel put away their weapons and de-transformed. Everyone was surprised, but Zero and Ciel walked over to Prairie

"Everyone will forget what you just heard, do I make myself clear?" it wasn't a question, it was an order

The Guardians saluted and Prairie walked back to the base with Zero and Ciel behind her

Prairie's room

Prairie made sure to lock the door, and turn off the cameras. She had also ordered Fleuve to join them.

Right now Prairie was standing in the middle of the room, Ciel right in front of her, while Zero and Fleuve stood to the side.

Prairie took a step towards Ciel and…hugged her. Ciel was surprised, while Fleuve smiled and Zero had a faint smile

Prairie was crying "Ciel, you came back"

Ciel stiffened but loosened up and hugged Prairie back "Yes, I came back Alouette" she was also crying

"*sniff* how…how are you back? Everyone died…the base was destroyed…how are you alive Sis?"

"I…I'm sorry…I can't say yet…the memories are too painful…

"Do they involve…him?"

Ciel sobbed harder "yes" she cried out and started crying much harder

Prairie hugged Ciel tenderly and started rubbing her back, just like how Ciel did for her when she was sad, this time, it was her turn.

Fleuve looked towards Zero and saw a scowl when Prairie mentioned 'him'.

"Zero, it's good that you're back"

Zero looked at him for a moment before he knew who it was, the small stature and the glasses were a dead give-away "I'm not so sure I'm happy about it Perroquiet"

Fleuve smiled "Well, I know I'm happy you're back, and seeing how Allouette is, I'm sure she is too"

Zero nodded and looked back towards Prairie and Ciel.

"Zero, what exactly happened that day?" asked a concerned Fleuve

Zero looked down "It's…I won't let it happen again, no matter what…"

Fleuve nodded, knowing that was as much as he was going to get out of him right now

2 days later

Zero and Ciel were in North Base's cafeteria until Wolf and another member came up to them.

"Rezon, Elice, come with me" ordered Wolf

Zero and Ciel obeyed and followed after Wolf

20 minutes later

They found themselves in a training lab on one of the five corners of North Base.

"Alright, I know you have questions as to why I brought you here, and I'll answer with this" he gave a signal to the scientists to start "Commander Prairie wants you both to join the Guardians, but I want to know if either of you can fight. I brought you here because of this virtual training program" he pointed to the hexagonal shaped room which the scientists were starting up "You'll enter that room and show us your skills" he saw that Ciel was about to talk "And no, you will take it, no matter your reasons"

Zero and Ciel nodded

"Good, now who's first?"

Zero was going to speak but Ciel beat him to it

"I'll go"

Zero looked at her "You sure?"

Ciel looked at Zero and she saw how worried he was but she still nodded

Zero sighed "Alright"

Wolf told Ciel to go inside the room and she did. The door closed and she walked to the middle of the room.

"Start" said Wolf

The program started and three Galleons appeared.

"On my mark"

"Go!"

Ciel summoned her guns which surprised the Guardians and shot the galleons in the head before they could do anything.

They increased the difficulty and 2 Assault Galleons appeared and like before they were shot in the heads before they could do anything.

They kept increasing the difficulty, and Ciel kept defeating them no matter what.

Wolf saw that she was much more than ready, she was a match for Vent and Aile, and he wanted to see how strong she was.

"Use the 4 Hunters program" ordered Wolf

The director nodded and activated the 4 Hunters program

"Type L, Start."

In front of Ciel appeared the Mega Man of Ice, Thetis.

Ciel readied her guns. Thetis took out his lance and took his stance. Thetis charged at Ciel, while she remained still. He summoned a spike of ice and shot it at her. She simply dodged and ducked to evade his slash at her head. She then pressed both guns at his chest and released both charged shots. They went right through his body, leaving one big gaping hole where his chest should have been.

"Follow up with type F"

Then the Mega Man of Fire appeared, Atlas. Atlas took out one of her guns and shot at Ciel who dodged the attack. Ciel shot back and Atlas took the hit without it doing anything to her. Atlas took out her other gun and started shooting at Ciel with both guns. Ciel weaved through each shot on her way to Atlas. When she reached Atlas, she aimed a fist to Atlas's head. Atlas blocked but Ciel sweep kicked her feet. Atlas fell to the floor and Ciel pressed her other gun to her chest and fired. Atlas slightly survived but Ciel took her other gun and fired it again. Another hole through another Mega Man's chest and Atlas was beaten.

"Next, Type P"

Siarnaq appeared next, the Mega Man of Shadow's. Siarnaq threw a shuriken at Ciel, who dodged and swepped kicked back, tripping Siarnaq who had appeared behind her. She then heel dropped him but he rolled out of the way and she fired charge shot at him. He jumped up to evade the attack but did not see the second charge shot coming and was hit. As he fell Ciel ran to where he was going to land and slammed one of her guns on his back, and pressed the trigger, firing another charge shot through him.

"Last hunter AI, Type H, start!"

The last of the 4 hunters appeared. Aeolus, the Mega Man of Wind. Aeolus took out his blades and charged at Ciel. Ciel charged at him too, putting away her guns. Aeolus slashed at her and Ciel dodged. Ciel threw a fist to his face which he evaded. Aeolus then did a spin slash and Ciel jumped back to avoid the attack, but then Aeolus charged at her with her jetpack activated. Ciel then raised her hand and when Aeolus got close to slice her; she grabbed his blades and stopped his charged. The Guardians were stunned as Ciel stopped his charge. Ciel then kneed him in the stomach and took one of his blades, spinning in place and slicing him in half.

The Guardians were surprised and Wolf was impressed. But he decided to step it up a notch.

"Initiate 'that' program" he said

The scientists looked at him "Are you sure sir?" asked the director

Wolf nodded; the director sighed and reluctantly ordered everyone to activate the program.

Floating in front of Ciel appeared Albert with his Model W armor as his bits circled around him.

Ciel took out her guns and got ready to fight but

"_Why can't my hands stop shaking?" _she looked at Albert with a careful look _"Why does it feel familiar?" _Ciel shook her head and tried to calm down

Zero didn't show anything but inside he was worried _"There's something…familiar about him, but what?"_

Ciel shot two bullets at Albert, which were deflected by his bit shield. Ciel then dodged a sword he made of his bits. Ciel shot again and the same effect happened.

Ciel kept dodging his attacks as she tried to hit him but all her shots were blocked by his shield. She shot again and noticed something; the bits glowed for a second before going back to normal. To test her theory she shot again but this time at one of the bits surrounding him and his shield dropped a bit. She was correct. She then jumped to evade another of his bit attacks. When she landed, she took a deep breath and put away her gun. She then raised her left hand and there appeared a handle. She took hold of it and slashed with it, a saber, the same as Zero only light blue, appeared. She then dashed at Albert. Albert sent his bits at Ciel. Ciel jumped over the bits and used them to get closer to Albert. Albert summoned a ball of energy in his right hand and lasers shot out from it towards Ciel. She dodged the lasers with ease, seeming to leave afterimages and she dashed directly at Albert. When she was close enough she swung in an arc, destroying the bits around Albert that made up his shield and sliced vertically, cutting Albert in half from the waist below. Ciel then landed and when she saw the program ending she breathed a sigh of relief. She put away her sword and started walking to the door until she felt a presence behind her. Turning around and taking her guns out, she faced her opponent only for her eyes to widen in fear as she sees who it is.

"S-S-Serp-p-pent...!" Ciel started shaking and she dropped her guns as she stared at Serpent's mega merged form in terror

Zero was initially surprised but then was slowly being filled with hatred. His left arm started to tremble, but Zero grabbed it with his right arm to calm himself in time.

"Stop the program" spoke Zero, straining his voice slightly

The director was about to, since not even he wanted to use it, but Wolf stopped him and he turned to Zero.

"Why?" asked Wolf

"Just do it"

"I need a reason for it" wolf retorted skeptically.

Ciel took a few steps back, shaking her head as Serpent aimed his finger bullets at her. He shot and Ciel didn't even try to dodge, she was too terrified. The bullets hit and she was sent back. Serpent then charged at her and kicked her into the wall. He then grabbed her by her neck and hurled her at the other side of the room. Ciel hit the wall and slid down. She then saw Serpent closing in and she backed away into a corner and grabbed her head with her hands as she stared at the floor with wide eyes.

"Please, don't kill me!" she yelled as her vision was getting blurry from tears.

Everyone was shocked at seeing Ciel's sudden change of attitude from a determined fighter to a scared little girl.

Zero on the other hand, turned to wolf and grabbed him by the collar

"Turn that thing off, NOW!" Zero yelled to the commander

Wolf didn't need much convincing by that point,though " Everyone, Deactivate Training Program Type W!" the scientists got to work , but the program would not power down.

"The controls are not responding sir! It's out of our control!" The main Scientist informed, eliciting a grunt of disapproval from Wolf and a frustrated growl from Zero.

"Hey, I'm picking up a strange energy reading from the training area!"

Everyone looked at the area and saw a strange light slowly radiating from Ciel, who was in one of the corners sobbing and trembling as the Serpent hologram was menacingly approaching her, ready to attack.

The team was alarmed at this "The energy reading just sky-rocketed! It's off the charts!" said a distressed analyst.

"Get away from me! I-I don't want to die!" Ciel screamed while at the same time the radiant light spiked. Sending waves of enormous pressure and almost blinding everyone in the room.

"Everyone, get down!" Zero said as he took both Wolf and the director to the floor with him.

A second later, the light shined even brighter as it unleashed an explosion enveloping everything around it.


End file.
